HISTORY 


OF   THE 


RENC 


WITH 


BIX  -I-  YEARS  -I-  DF  -I-  LIFE  I  AND  -1-  TRA¥EL 


IN  THE 


^  ->PI^D¥INCEtDF>|cyUEBEC,r. 


ILISHERS  Pkeface.— The  manuscript  of  part  flrst  of  this  work  was  written 
axtive  of  mine,  and  from  my  own  personal  experience  of  seven  years  in  the 
^e  of  Quebec.  I  consider  it  an  excellent  and  tiHithful  portrayal  of  every  day 
lat  province.  Being  also  personally  acquainted  with  most  of  the  charac- 
1  iiitmy  of  the  Incidents  of  the  book  I  can  offer  it  to  the  public  as  a  irue  pic- 
bi  life  without  a  word  of  fiction  in  it  except  the  names  which  I  have  changed 
[ot  the  characters  in  it  are  living.— R.  A.  N.  Harvsy. 

• 

FROM- 


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W.  H.  GRAY  &  CO. 

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TirMiES  sxE-A-iM:  iF'iai^sri'. 


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Chapter  I. 

In  the  year  i860  a  family  named  Howard  emigrated  to  the 
backwoods  of  Canada.     The  family  consisted  of  father,  mother 
aid^two  sons.     The  husband  was  a  thriftless  being  who  had  not 
sufficient  energy  to  provide  for  his  family,  but  allowed  his  wife's 
brother  in  London,  named  Goldsmith,  to  pay  to  his  wife  a  yearly 
income  of  ^400;  after  the  wife's  death  the  uncle  of  the  children 
settled  ;^300  a  year  on  the  two  boys — whose  names  were  Tom 
and  Arthur — who  had  bought  some  property  from  another  uncle 
in  Montreal.     The  narrative  commences  on  the  5th    day  of  Jan- 
uary, 1876,  when  the  two  brothers  receive   a    letter   from   their 
uncle  in  London:     "My  dear  boys  I  received  your  welcome  let- 
ters and  am  happy  to  hear  that  you  are  comfortable    with   your 
father,  at  the   same  time  I   wish  it   to    be    understood   that  the 
money  advanced  to  you  must  be  laid  out  in  the  improvement  of 
your  new  farm  and  I  strongly  advise  you  to  try  and  make   it  at 
once  produce  the  necessaries  ot  life;  get  ready  a  portion  of  that 
ground  and  plant  potatoes  and  wheat  immediately,  as  you  may 
lose  the  home  farm  so  su  idenly  as  to  throw  you  into  difficulties, 
your  father  is  so  uncertain  both  in  his  temper  and  management, 
he  may  either  involve  it  in  debt  or  sell  it  before  you  had  time  to 
prepare,  on  that  account  and  for  his  interest  as  well  as  your  own 
I  again  strongly  recommend  to  make  your  farm  the  grand  object 
of  your  exertions,  so  as  not  to  have  yourselves  and  father  with- 
out the  common  necessaries  of  life;  I  am  truly  justified  in  being 
afraid  of  Mr.  Howard's  management,  when  I  remember  the  sums 
of  money  he  has  wasted  from  his    youth    to   this  year  and    the 
charge,  trouble  and  expense  he  has  been  to  every  one  connected 
with  him.     I  think    for  his  sake  and  yours  you   ought  to    spend 
your  income  on  your  lots  otherwise  your  time    and  money  v  il 
be  frittered  away;  as    regards    Mr.  H's  clearance  I    could    put  a 
boarding  school  girl,  who  could  on  uncleared  land  do  three  times 
as  much  as  he  did  at  half  the   cost.     I   expected  to  see  at  least 
40  acres  of  good  land    cleared  and  fenced  bearing  good  crops, 

fiQ517 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

That,  property  of  yours  will  be  a  splendid  place  soon,  although 
the  labor  is  great  the  reward  will  be  greater.  Have  you  tried  to 
get  a  contract  for  the  wood  at  the  mines?  Have  you  seen  any 
bears?  How  does  my  dear  sister's  tomb  look?  I  hope  the  ce- 
dar hedge  will  thrive.  Give  my  love  to  my  niece;  tell  her  I  will 
write  next  week;  she  is  a  great  pet  of  mine,  alscr  remember  me 
to  my  brother  Herbert  and  his  wife.  Everything  here  is  dull 
and  I  am  afaid  trade  will  never  revive  in  England;  the  tradesmen 
and  mechanics  have  driven  the  trade  into  other  countries  bv  their 
strikes  and  short  sighted  foolish  proceedings  and  now  the 
wretched  workhouses  and  open  streets  are  full  of  half  starved 
people,  clerks  and  laborers  as  well  as  every  kind  of  mechanics 
seeking  in  vain  for  employment  at  any  wages,  ever  so  little  to 
keep  them  from  starvation;  there  seems  to  be  no  hope  of  im- 
provement; it  is  I  fear  permanent.  I  should  like  to  live  in  your 
neighborhood.  If  I  had  possessed  13000  acres  like  your  uncle 
Richard  I  should  not  have  sold  it  but  made  it  valuable  property. 
Take  care  and  do  not  rest  in  wet  clothes  or  catch  cold.  I  hope 
to  hear  good  news  about  you  all;  tell  uncle  Herbert  not  to  give 
up  work  or  else  he  will  fall  sick.  My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur, 
your  loving  uncle,  J.  Goldsmith."  Saw  the  northern  lights  at 
midday,  which  are  only  seen  in  day  time  during  the  most  severe 
winters;  measured  Joe  Vincent's  job  of  cord  wood,  cut  him  one 
cord  on  the  20  on  account  of  the  small  branchwood  in  it,  also 
because  some  of  the  piles  were  too  loosely  corded.  Had  a  dis- 
pute with  father  and  his  hired  boy  Dodsley;  Dodsley  called  me 
a  liar  for  which  I  boxed  his  ears;  father  took  Dodsley's  part  and 
said  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  him;  I  told  him  that  if  we  fed 
and  clothed  the  boy  he  might  at  least  render  us  some  service  oc- 
casionally, such  as  cleaning  the  stables,  etc.  On  Sunday  our 
cousins  Sarah,  Ethel,  Philip,  Walter  and  Jonathan  Goldsmith, 
took  tea  with  us  and  spent  the  evening  in  reading  Chamber's 
miscellaneous  and  the  British  American  magazine,  full  of  inter- 
esting anecdotes  and  love  stories.  Next  day  Tom  and  I  went  to 
Richford  and  paid  our  accounts  with  storekeepers  there;  stayed 
all  night  at  C.  McMills,  who  keeps  a  hotel;  next  morning  saw 
a  span  of  colts  v'alued  at  ;^ioo  which  we  thought  too  dear;  on 
our  way  back  Guertin  told  us  he  charged  $2  a  1000  feet  for  saw- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  5 

ing  lumber;  he  oftered  to  sell  us  a  very  fine  horse  for$[O0;  next 
day  Tom  and  father  had  a  dispute  about  a  gold  watch  and  a  bible 
thac  our  dear  mother  left  to  Tom,  which  father  did  not  want  to 
let  him  have,  he  however  came  to  terms  and  gave  them  to  him. 
Andre  L,  to  whom  we  gave  a  job  of  making  shingles,  said  if  we 
did  not  keep  him  supplied  with  cedar  he  would  not  finish  the 
job;  we  promised  to  keep  him  better  supplied  and  gave  him  an 
order  on  Bedard's  store  as  part  payment  on  the  job.  Went  to 
Vincent's  to  hire  them  to  draw  saw  logs,  they  could  not  as  they 
had  a  large  quantity  of  wood  to  draw  for  the  R'wy  Co.  Magloire 
and  is  greatly  captivated  with  Tetreault's  daughter;  she  is  veiy 
stout,  frightfully  pockmarked  and  has  very  ugly  features,  but  I 
suppose  it  is  a  great  blessing  that  many  persons  seem  indifferent 
to  the  charms  of  beauty  or  a  great  many  men  and  women  would 
remain  unmarried.  I  can  understand  a  man  marrying  an  ugly 
woman  who  is  very  talented,  for  intellectual  beauty  is  of  even 
more  consequence  than  physical,  but  I  do  not  admire  a  man's 
taste  who  marries  a  woman  devoid  of  both  these  qualities.  Jack 
Spencer  came  looking  for  work;  gave  him  the  job  of  drawing 
100  saw  logs  to  G's  mill,  2  miles  distance  for  $'j  Louis  Brodeur 
came  to  get  us  to  go  with  our  horses  to  snow-plow  the  roads; 
we  went;  there  were  8  other  teams  whose  owners  had  volunteer- 
ed their  services  for  the  public  good  In  some  parishes  a  man 
is  given  the  contract  of  clearing  the  road  in  winter  and  keeping 
it  in  repair,  getting  $25  to  keep  6  miles  in  order  during  the  win- 
ter. Received  a  letter  from  Allan  Robertson  of  New  Brunswick, 
chiefly  a  letter  of  condo'icnce  on  our  dear  mother's  death,  also 
events  in  his  life  at  college  and  of  his  father's  travels  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  Jan.  20,  one  of  father's  cows  got  strangled 
last  night,  got  her  foot  m  the  yoke;  went  to  Meredith's  to  buy 
another  but  the  one  he  had  for  sale  was  nothing  extra;  was  in- 
vited to  3tay  to  tea  but  declined  with  thanks  and  an  excuse,  Tom 
and  I  had  a  talk  about  our  affairs,  I  tVanted  to  build  merely  a 
log  barn,  Tom  a  frame  one.  I  suggestsd  that  we  might  want  to 
leave  this  place  later  on  and  it  would  be  wiser  to  make  what 
money  we  could  out  of  the  place  and  not  spend  all  our  income  on 
it  and  keep  a  bank  account  in  case  of  an  emergency.  Tom's  idei 
however  prevailed;  a  Frenchman  '^anted  to  sell  us  a  horse   and 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

take  a  gun  and  revolver  at  ^20  as  part  pnyment;  we  however  de- 
clined. Derbue  came  looking  for  work;  gave  him  10  cords  of 
wood  to  chop;  father  sold  him  the  dead  cow  to  make  soap  but 
we  afterwards  heard  that  he  antl  his  faiDily  actually  eat  ic;  Der- 
bue wanted  us  to  advance  him  money  to  get  provisions  but  I  did 
not  like  to  trust  him  at  which  he  was  greatly  offended.  Next 
morning  went  to  Aston  with  a  double  load  of  wood,  had  hard 
work  starting  the  sleigh,  it  was  frozen  to  the  snow;  had  to  chop 
the  hard  snow  around  the  runners;  only  sold  my  load  for  ^1.40 
to  the  R'wy,  it  only  passed  for  3^/^  ft.  wood,  so  I  did  not  "cut" 
Vincent  enough  on  it.  We  made  a  mistake  in  contracting  our 
bark  to  Chelton,  he  gave  me  $G  for  my  last  load  whilj  D.  Do- 
herty  offered  ^9;  in  the  evening  went  to  G's;  A.  Larivere  and 
his  wife  were  there;  they  were  only  married  this  fall  and  are  liv- 
ing on  what  was  once  Larivere's  old  homestead,  on  which  his 
father  settled  in  1858,  when  he  had  to  leave  the  cast  half  ot  lot 
30,  on  which  he  had  squatted;  uncle  H  having  come  to  live  on 
it  from  his  other  lot  in  the  6th  range,  which  was  too  sandy  to 
make  farming  a  success,  Larivere  sen.  although  a  hard  worker, 
has  been  unsuccessful,  partly  through  drink,  he  during  the  first 
few  years  went  out  west  and  made  a  considerable  amount  of 
money  and  returned  to  his  wife  who  lived  on  the  farm  with  the 
younger  children;  left  his  3  oldest  sons  out  west  who  often  sent 
him  sums  of  money  but  to  no  use;  the  crash  came  through  un- 
successful lumbering  operations  and  the  homestead  was  sold;  the 
family  moved  to  another  lot  they  bought  from  the  British  Amer- 
ican Land  Co.  situated  in  the  Point  of  Aston,  which  place  he 
gave  into  the  management  of  one  of  his  sons  on  condition  that 
he  and  his  wife  should  receive  their  support  from  him,  which  is 
the  usual  way  it  is  managed  in  this  province.  Andre  is  going 
to  move  in  the  Spring  on  50  acres  of  land  opposite  to  ours,  which 
he  has  bought  on  credit;  after  a  hard  days  work  he  and  his  wife 
make  shingles  to  sell  up-till  1 1  every  night,  so  if  frugality  and 
industry  is  all  that  is  required  he  ought  to  succeed.  As  it  was 
a  beautiful  moonlight  night  I  went  out  for  a  snow  shoe  tramp  with 
Ethel  and  the  two  Miss  Day  tons  to  the  top  of  Parker's  hill;  Par- 
ker, poor  fellow,  through  drink  has  years  ago  been  obliged  to 
sell  out  and  go  west  and  has  since  had  a  village  called  after  him 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  J 

and  is  its  postmaster.  F.  Burke  wanted  to  hire  to  us  to  drive  our 
team,  but  even  if  we  did  want  one  I  would  never  have  him,  for 
when  his  half  starved  oxen  could  not  pull  their  load  he  placed  a 
bundle  of  straw  behind  them  and  burnt  them  in  a  terrible  man- 
ner, also  another  instance  of  his  develish  cruelty  was  the  putting 
coal  oil  on  a  cat  and  setting  her  on  fire  till  burnt  to  death,  yet 
this  scoundrel  had  the  audacity  to  partake  of  the  Mciy  Sacra- 
ment, a  few  days  after  this  occurrence  and  that  too  with  respect- 
able members  of  the  infallable  church  who  were  acquainted  with 
all  his  villany.  Mr.  Meredith  wrote  to  father  saying  he  would 
sell  a  pure  Ayrshire  calf  for  ^lo;  sent  to  Montreal  for  pork, 
where  it  is  cheaper  than  here.  Broke  roads  to  the  saw  logs  as 
it  is  a  mild  day,  which  is  the  best  time  for  "breaking"  roads  as 
the  snow  packs  better.  We  heard  of  pair  of  oxen  for  sale  at  $50 
each  but  one  pair  was  too  old,  9  years  and  the  other  too  young, 
2^^,  which  is  too  young  for  heavy  work.  Of  late  we  are  getting 
"cut"  on  our  bark  on  account  of  its  being  considerably  broken; 
at  a  tannery  this  is  not  objected  to  as  it  can  be  thrown  into  the 
mill  and  ground  at  once,  but  shipping  such  bark  to  the  U.  S. 
causes  a  great  amount  of  extra  work  in  loading  and  unloading  it 
from  the  cars  as  well  as  waste;  received  a  letter  from  uncle  Rich- 
ard: "My  dear  Arthur  and  Tom,  I  have  to  apologize  for  not 
writing  sooner,  but  I  have  been  exceedingly  busy  since  I  saw 
you  last;  I  am  attending  Montreal  general  hospital  at  present, 
in  fact  that  would  occupy  my  time  without  anything  else,  I  am 
happy  to  say  through  my  son  Richard's  help  I  have  got  out  all 
my  accounts;  things  are  frightful  in  town,  going  from  bad  to 
worse,  but  some  of  the  sufferers  really  deserve  what  they  are  get 
ting;  sickness  has  been  very  prevalent  this  winter;  when  I  was 
out  I  quite  forgot  to  take  out  a  cap  Angelica  sent  to  Tom,  you 
can  get  it  when  you  come  in;  we  have  no  visitors  at  present  and 
the  sooner  you  come  in  the  better,  with  love  to  your  father,  be- 
lieve me  to  remain  your  affectionate  uncle  Richard  I  Goldsmith." 
Barclay  brought  16  yards  of  cloth  that  his  wife  had  wove  for  fa- 
ther; he  invited  us  to  a  temperance  meeting  at  East  Hastings. 
Jonathan  G.  only  made  one  load  for  us  to-day;  this  is  not  fair, 
when  i  changed  time  with  them  last  fall  at  plowing  I  worked 
from  daylight  till  dark,  they  also  want  more  than  one  bushel  of 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

oats  per  clay  for  their  horses.  Feb.  6th,  Tom  and  I  went  to  As- 
ton; he  bought  a  cloth  cap  for  ^i  and  a  pair  of  kid  niits  for  $i  30; 
paid  15  cents  each  for  hair  cutting;  Tom  went  to  Montreal;  next 
day,  Sunday,  a  beautiful  day,  put  chloride  of  zinc  on  our  mare's 
shoulder,  which  is  sore,  then  went  for  a  snow  shoe  tramp  with 
Sarah.  Ethel  and  Philip;  in  the  evening  young  Kirwin  came 
from  Devlin's  and  asked  us  all  to  a  dance  there,  aunt  and  uncle 
went  and  1  spent  the  evening  at  G's.;  Sarah  read  stories  aloud 
till  m;  roads  next  day  bad  to  Guertin's  mill,  can  only  load  on 
2  logsa  load;  went  to  McDougall's  at  Aston  for  money  he  owed 
us,  he  was  not  at  home,  was  at  a  school  meeting,  he  is  one  of  the 
village  trustees  for  the  village  school;  had  a  long  chat  with  Mrs. 
McD,  she  is  a  French  Canadian  Roman  Catholic,  but  has  a  fair 
education  and  speaks  English  as  fluently  as  French;  they  seem 
to  live  very  happily  together  notwithstanding  their  difference  in 
religious  belief,  he  being  a  Congregationalist,  but  there  being  no 
children  may  account  for  this;  I  believe  from  what  I  have  heard 
that  they  had  some  trouble  as  regards  the  education  of  his  daugh- 
ter and  only  child  by  his  first  wife,  who  was  a  Protestant,  and 
whom  Mrs.  McD  tried  to  bring  up  as  an  R.  C,  but  her  father 
sent  her  to  her  grandmother,  where  she  has  always  lived  since, 
thus  removing  what  is  generally  the  cause  of  discord  in  married 
life  between  husband  and  wife  when  they  hold  opposite  beliefs. 
On  Friday,  on  returning  in  the  evening  from  drawing  saw  logs 
to  the  saw  mill  uncle  Herbert  said  his  son  had  finishe'd  paying 
the  time  he  owed  us  with  his  team;  for  peace  sake  I  said  nothing 
but  knew  from  our  account  book  he  owed  us  still  4  days;  Tom 
returned  on  Saturday;  I  made  4  loads  of  logs,  the  last  upset  3 
times;  sold  the  "cut"  of  some  birch  and  ash  for  square  timber  to 
Israel  Dufresne  at  ^^i  per  tree,  he  only  takes  the  largest  and  best; 
the  squared  timber  is  bought  by  "buyers"  and  shipped  to  the  U 
S  and  Europe.  Dufresne  is  part  lumberer,  trapper  and  laborer; 
;n  autumn  he  shoots  game,  fishes  and  lays  traps  for  fur  bearing 
;inimals,  chiefly  mink,  martin  and  otter,  he  also  sells  the  skins 
of  skunks  after  using  a  certain  process  to  remove  the  disgusting 
.>dor  and  occasionally  catches  a  bear  in  "dead  falls"  or  steel  traps; 
n  winter  he  makes  square  timber,  in  spring  makes  sugar  and  in 
summer  sometimes  peels  bark  "by  the  cord,"  makes  barrel  hoops 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  9 

out  of  ash,  but  he  never  makes  any  attempt  to  clear  or  cultivate 
his  lot  of  land.  Spent  Sunday  at  Doherty's,  an  Irish  family.  3 
miles  from  our  place.  Dennis  Doherty  offered  me  $800  for  the 
cut  of  all  the  wood  on  our  2  lots,  34  and  35,  which  I  refused; 
father  wanted  us  to  go  and  hear  Chief  Joseph  of  the  Oka  Indians 
speak  of  the  illtreatment  that  his  tribe  received  from  the  Semi- 
nary brothers;  we  went  however  to  a  lecture  at  Richford  town 
hall,  the  audience  consisted  3f  about  40  persons;  the  lecturer 
was  once  a  chaplain  in  the  U.  S.  army;  he  commenced  with  a 
description  of  the  horrors  of  war,  on  being  captured  by  the 
Southerners  he  said  "why  do  you  take  my  horse  for  1  do  not 
fight  against  you  and  I  attend  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  Southern- 
ers as  well  as  Northerners,  but  the  remonstrance  was  of  no  avail 
and  I  was  sent  with  my  comrades  to  Libby  prison;  the  forced 
marches  under  a  burning  sun  were  of  course  harder  on  us  than 
our  guards,  encumbered  as  we  were  with  our  cavalry  boots;  on 
arrival  the  jailor  seaiched  us  all  and  took  away  all  the  green- 
backs any  of  the  soldiers  had,  but  left  them  in  possession  of 
vSouthern  money  when  they  had  any;  some  of  the  soldiers  hid 
their  money  by  removing  the  brass  covering  ofT  their  buttons  and 
hiding  a  bill  inside,  another  way  was  to  put  a  ^$20  bill  in  a  quid 
of  tobacco  in  their  mouths  and  when  out  of  sight  remove  it;  our 
rations  were  barely  sufficient  to  keep  life  in  us;  the  way  we 
cooked  our  bread  was  to  mix  the  flour  in  an  old  rubber  coat  and 
cook  the  dough  on  a  flat  stone;  that  bread  would  have  been  bet- 
ter for  paving  a  road  than  the  human  stomach;  after  a  time  it 
was  given  cooked  to  us,  a  piece  about  the  size  of  my  hand  and 
a  piece  of  meat  as  large  as  my  two  fingers;  sometimes  we  had  a 
little  soup  that  had  a  horrible  taste,  but  it  was  too  dark  to  see 
what  it  was  composed  of,  one  morning  while  taking  some  I  dis- 
covered a  large  white  maggot  in  it;  the  meat  they  gave  us  was 
so  lively  that  I  actually  think  if  it  was  left  on  the  ground  it 
would  have  walked  away.  We  used  to  have  regular  markets 
among  ourselves;  the  way  we  got  our  provisions  was  to  attach 
a  piece  of  bone  to  a  string  and  throw  it  out  through  the  bars  of 
the  window  with  a  bank  note  attached;  the  people  outside  would 
attach  to  the  string  an  egg  or  potatoes,  &c.;  we  had  to  pay  $1 
for  either  a  potatoe  or   an  egg.     One  of  our  greatest  torments 


lO  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

was  vermin,  the  best  blood  in  Libby  prison  flowed  in  their  veins." 
The  boss  of  McDougalls  cordwood    shanty  wanted   to    buy  the 
cut  of  the  wood  on  20  acres  of  land  at  10  cents  a  cord,  which  we 
refused;  sold  the  cut  of  the  hemlock    bark   on  both  our  lots   for 
$700,  ^400  cash  and  a  half  lot  of  land   equivalent   to   the  ^300; 
went  by  the  2  o'clock  train   to  Montreal  with  Doherty;  paid  30 
cents  for  breakfast  on  arrival.     At    uncle    Richard's   the    family 
were  not  up,  Doherty  left  saying  he  would  call    in    the    evening; 
drove  about  the  city  with  uncle  during  the  day;   the  bargain  was 
concluded  in  the  evening,  but  found  that  the  100  acres  in  ques- 
tion could  not  be  purchased,  so  the  full  ;^700  was  to  be    paid    in- 
stead.    On  returning  bought  the  cut  of  fathers  hemlock  bark  and 
pine  lumber  for  ;gi50.     Of  late  D.  Doherty  has  been  buying  lots 
of  land  sold  at  auction  at  St.  Lengene,  the   capital  of  the  Co.  of 
Bradford,  which  are  sold  for  the  amount  of  taxes    due    on  them; 
sometimes  one  can  make  1000  per  cent  interest    on   the    invest- 
ment.    I  gave  back  to  father  the  right  of  keeping  his  pine  timber; 
he  is  indignant  with  me  for  buying  his  bark;   I  told  him  he  had 
no  right  to  be,  seeing  that  I  gave  him  $5  more  than  another  man 
offered  him,  to  whom  he  was  going  to  sell.     Father  sold  the  cut 
of  the  basswood  timber  on  60  acres  for  ;^35   to  a  man  who  owns 
a  steam  saw  mill  at  the  end  of  this  "Range."     Had  several  very 
cold  and  stormy  days  during  which  we  only  attended  to  the  an- 
imals and  cut  firewood  for  the  house;  passed  these  days  in  read- 
ing at  home  or  in  conversation  at  our  neighbors.     I  take   pleas 
ure  in  listening  to  Philip  when  he  plays  on  his  violin,  on  which 
he  is  very  skilful.     I  have  always  thought  that  good  music  has 
an  elevating  influence  on  man.     I  have  been  thinking  that  father, 
even  at  his  present  age,  ought  to  succeed  on  his  farm.     He  has 
over  ;^2oo,  very  fair  buildings,  over  25  acres  fit   for  the  plow,  a 
good  wardrobe  full  of  clothing,  sufficient  for  a  lifetime,  12  sheep, 
a  horse  and  cow  besides  wheat,  money  he    can    make  from    the 
valuable  timber  his  100  acre  lot  contains,  as  well  as  a  fine  sugar 
bush  of  700  trees.     Received  a  letter  from   uncle  Jerrold:     "My 
dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  how  does  the  barn    get   on?  make    it   so 
that  it  can  be  enlarged  and  see  that  it  is  strong  and  water  tight;  if 
once  well  done  alwayscomfortable,  but  if  rickety  ever  a  nuisance. 
I  dare  say  you  will  have  cellars  to  keep  your   winter   stores  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEKICA,  ,  II 

In  Ireland  they  dig  deep  pits  and  cover  tlie  potatoes  with  large 
heaps  of  earth  to  keep  out  the  frost,  probably  this  would  not  do 
for  your  severe  climate.  Have  you  cleared  out  the  brook  and 
made  it  deeper,  so  as  to  drain  the  Beaver  meadov/?  that  land  is 
worth  all  the  labor  you  can  spend  on  it  as  it  will  turn  out  rich 
and  fertile.  I  suppose  you  will  live  in  the  barn  until  you  are  able 
to  get  up  a  nice  house  at  your  leisure.  Uncle  Richard  has  a 
capital  plan  of  a  house  with  a  veranda  and  balcony.  I  hope  he 
will  often  go  and  see  you;  as  long  as  you  take  his  advice  and  ere 
guided  by  his  counsel  and  assistance  you  are  safe.  He  is  wise, 
steady,  good  and  experienced  alike,  and  you  are  both  thrice,  even  . 
ten  fold  happy  in  having  him  as  a  staunch  and  loving  friend;  he 
has  by  his  ability,  prudence  and  good  conduct  realized,  without 
one  mortal  to  aid  him,  a  fortune  in  a  career  of  virtue  and  honor, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  escaping  from  calumny  and  disgrace, 
steering  clear  from  the  traps  and  assaults  of  the  wicked  jealous 
people  that  are  always  ready  to  lie  in  wait  for  every  good  and 
prosperous  man.  It  is  a  well  known  and  admitted  fact  that  rom 
the  very  days  of  our  blessed  Lord  down  to  this  hour,  scarcely 
can  a  truly  generous  and  good  man  escape  the  slanders  of  the 
truly  idle  and  wicked,  and  clever  and  cautious  indeed  must  be 
the  upright  man  who  can  so  walk  as  to  escape  the  pitfalls  and 
illwill  of  the  vicious  and  the  bad,  and  so  much  do  they  outnum- 
ber the  good  men  of  the  world  it  will  behave  in  proportion  as  you 
are  happy  and  prosperous,  to  avoid  giving  them  the  slightest 
pretence  either  by  look  or  word  for  attacking  your  character. 
Your  aunt  is  sitting  by  the  fire  with  her  sister  reading  texts  from 
the  Bible.  The  weather  is  warm  and  so  mild  that  flowers  and 
leaves  are  springing  up  in  our  garden.  We  went  yesterday  to 
our  church  and  heard  our  American  Church  of  England  pastor 
preach  a  most  clever  and  edifying  sermon  extemporaneously 
without  note  or  book;  a  pious  man,  he  knew  the  Bible  well  and 
quoted  it  often  from  memory;  the  people  were  most  attentive 
and  you  could  see  at  once  the  effect  of  a  good  and  sincere  man. 
Rupert  is  in  his  own  room  reading  hard  for  Oxford;  we  are  some- 
times oblijj'ed  to  drive  him  from  it  as  it  gives  him  a  headache. 
The  course  of  study  here  now  is  very  hard,  if  you  do  not  work 
10  or  15  hours  a  day  you  are  most  likely   rejected;  the  labor  is 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

much  greater  than  any  mechanic  or  laborers  work  and  much 
more  worrying  and  injurious  to  the  health,  so  that  we  are  obliged 
to  be  very  watchful  and  no:  let  Rupert  damage  his  constitution 
by  incessant  study.  It  has  just  commenced  to  pour  down  rain 
again;  we  have  not  had  such  a  season  for  33  years  and  as  far 
trade  and  business  it  seems  to  have  fled  away;  we  were  grieved 
to  hear  it  is  as  bad  in  Canada  and  the  U.  S.  so  that  a  time  of  war 
and  trouble  is  dreaded  in  Europe,  which  however  you  will  escape 
in  your  happy  Canada.  How  glad  you  must  be  in  your  pleasant 
fields  and  woods  with  the  fine  open  air  of  heaven  and  not  shut 
up  in  dusty  smoky  cities,  hemmed  in  by  smothering  walls  drains 
and  cesspools  and  every  breath  and  breeze  laden  with  foul  con- 
tagion and  bad  smells.  Small  pox  is  raging  in  England;  our  par- 
liament is  sitting  and  there  is  a  great  conflict  raging  between  the 
Conservatives  who  are  in  the  ministry  and  the  Liberals  who  are 
out  upon. the  Turkish  or  Eastern  question.  It  is  generally  sup- 
posed that  Russia  mtends  to  make  war  on  Turkey  and  that  in 
the  end  we  also  shall  declare  war  on  Russia  and  help  the  Turks, 
with  love  to  uncle  Herbert  and  all  his  family,  and  with  best  pray- 
ers to  God  for  you  both  and  much  loye,  your  aflectionate 
uncle  Jerrold.  P.  S. — What  are  you  going  to  call  your  lots?" 
Received  $2J  from  McDougall  for  fcordwood.  Tom  gave  me  a 
note  for  $%i  payable  in  1880,  for  money  I  advanced  the  firm  that 
I  possessed  when  we  first  entered  partnership.  Went  to  church 
on  foot;  met  Andre  L,  and  Louis  B.  returning  from  mass  and  they 
advised  me  to  take  a  short  cut  by  a  bush  road  through  Fancher's 
farm,  did  so  and  regretted  it;  I  often  sunk  through  treacherous 
ice  up  to  my  knees  in  water;  when  ^  the  way  spied  Christie's 
snow-capped  hill  with  barn  upon  it  through  the  tree  tops,  decided 
to  take  a  bee  line  for  it  but  the  crust  on  the  snow  was  not  strong 
enough  to  support  my  weight  and  every  few  footsteps  I  sank' over 
knee  deep  in  the  snow;  no  one  can  imagine  how  wearisome  or 
aggravating  it  is  to  walk  a  mile  in  this  manner,  at  the  same  time 
I  easily  imagined  how  the  poor  English  felt  when  they  staggered 
about  in  the  snow  as  they  resisted  the  French  who  attacked  them 
on  snow  shoes  in  one  of  their  earliest  contests  on  this  continent. 
On  entering  Christie's  clearance  my  difficulties  were  over,  for 
here  the  frost  had  taken  greater  effect  on  the  snow  than  where  it 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I3 

was  sheltered  by  the  forest;  Mr.VVilloughby  had  not  arrived  from 
Preston  when  I  arrived,  where  he  also  holds  services  as  well  as  at 
Richford  and  Davenport,  the  latter  place  he  goes  to  on  a  week 
day.  Maud  and  Florence  Meredith  were  at  church,  the  church 
was  full  for  a  wonder  as  generally  there  are  not  more  than  15  or 
20.  Several  persons  during  the  week  have  applied  for  the  con- 
tract of  building  us  a  house  and  barn;  we  had  put  up  a  notice  on 
the  station  house  asking  for  tenders.  John  Blake  was  the  lowest 
bidder,  $S$  to  finish  a  frame  barn  40x30  feet,  with  a  stable  in  it, 
he  to  square  the  timber  and  do  all  the  work  except  the  building 
of  a  stone  foundation  and  the  hauling  of  the  materials  on  the 
spot,  we  of  course  furnishing  the  nails,  shingles,  hinges,  &c.;  the 
house  to  be  of  hewn  logs  6  inches  thick,  20  x  22  feet,  he  to  hevv 
the  timber  and  merely  erect  the  house  and  put  in  the  doors  and 
windows.  Uncle  Richard  sent  us  an  excellent  plan  for  a  barn 
with  a  stone  stable,  7  feet  high  underneath,  but  it  was  too  expen- 
sive for  us  in  our  present  circumstances;  one  good  feature  I  saw 
in  it  was  that  of  having  the  floors  of  the  stables  so  arranged  as  to 
save  the  liquid  manure.  J.  Blake  is  an  unfortunate  man,  for 
which  he  himself  is  to  blame;  he  lost  2  farms  by  extravagantly 
going  into  debt  with  a  storekeeper  named  Delage,  who  took  his 
farm  from  him  for  a  small  debt  he  owed  him  by  making  a  great 
amount  of  law  costs  and  forcing  the  sale  of  the  farm  at  a  small 
figure.  Delage  has  since  cleared  ^1500  on  the  wood  alone  and 
has  had  the  farm  cleared  from  end  to  end.  This  same  man  is  one 
of  the  largest  land  proprietors  in  the  country  and  is  the  largest 
fa-mer;  he  has  27  farms.  Several  farmers  have  had  auctions  lately 
and  sold  out  their  stock,  fodder,  animals  and  implements;  all 
amounts  under  $^  cash  down,  under  ^10  credit  6  monts,  over  ;$io 
one  year.  For  several  days  I  was  laid  up  in  the  house  from  a 
severe  cold.  I  really  think  great  benefit  is  derived  from  exer- 
cising one's  will-power  when  sick  and  not  giving  way  to  every 
slight  sickness  as  some  people  do;  of  all  things  a  doctor  detests 
most  is  to  treat  a  desponding  or  dispairing  patient.  While  in 
Aston  a  few  days  ago  there  was  an  election  for  Mayor.  Roussin 
the  "rouge"  candidate  was  elected  amid  great  enthusiasm;  there 
was  a  triumphant  procession  of  / o  sleighs  headed  by  a  brass  band, 
after  which  many  speeches  were  made  from  the  balcony  of  the 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

hotel  Phancuf  wanted  to  sell  me  an  enormous  pair  of  oxen  for 
$gO]  his  wife  is  suffering  from  a  cancer  and  her  face  is  frightfully 
eaten  away  by  it;  she  appeared  perfectly  unconscious,  it  was  a 
sight  I  shall  never  forget;  he  wanted  me  to  take  some  whiskey 
with  him  but  I  told  him  I  was  a  total  abstainer.  Carmichael  boys 
are  great  novel  readers;  I  often  ridicule  to  them  their  trashy  and 
sensational  reading,  in  which  the  characters  are  all  overdrawn, 
the  villain  is  painted  too  black,  the  hero  too  perfect  and  the  lovers 
too  ridiculously  sentimental;  all  sensible  people  should  try  and 
avoid  becoming  fascinated  with  this  worthless  style  of  literature, 
and  any  man  who  says  I  do  this  or  that  to  "kill  time"  should  not 
receive  the  respect  of  any  good  man  or  woman;  man  on  this 
earth  has  such  a  short  time  to  perform  the  great  duties  of  life 
that  every  hour  and  even  second  should  be  regarded  by  him  as 
precious  and  Scicrcd  and  no  book  should  be  read  or  word  uttered, 
or  action  performed  that  would  not  benefit  the  man  himself  or 
the  rest  of  mankind.  Several  of  the  lamb's  of  father's  sheep  have 
died  and  no  wonder,  the  sheep  were  only  fed  on  hay  and  straw, 
they  should  have  received  additional  nourishment  and  been  kept 
in  a  warmer  building;  animals  badly  kept  are  oniy  a  loss.  Gave 
L.  Brodeur  $\'^  for  drawing  the  squared  timber  of  the  barn  and 
house;  conversed  with  Tom  how  we  should  have  our  lofjirinir 
done  this  spring,  he  thought  we  ought  to  buy  a  yoke  of  cattle,  I 
thought  it  would  be  cheaper  to  give  it  out  by  the  job  than  to  pay 
a  man  $l  a  day  to  help  us,  but  to  tell  the  truth  I  do  not  know 
where  all  the  money  is  to  come  from;  there  is  $85  for  building 
the  barn  and  house.about  ^25  for  the  stone  foundations,^3o  for  the 
sawing  of  lumber,  $10  still  due  Andre  for  shingks,  $1^  to  Louis 
for  hauling  squared  timber,  $20  for  seed,  oats  and  potatoes,  and  at 
least  $12  for  provisions  from  this  to  May,  in  all  $167  ;  all  we  have 
to  meet  this  is  ^78.62;  my  uncle  Jerrold's  quarterly  allowance  and 
$lco  cash  in  hand.  One  thing  is  certain  father  will  have  to  buy 
his  provisions  in  future  as  he  is  going  to  get  another  boy  from 
Norfolk  Home;  this  sheltering  home  is  managed  by  charitable 
ladies  who  gather  helpless  orphans  in  England  and  find  homes 
for  them  in  Canada;  at  any  rate  we  cannot  possibly  board  both 
boys  for  him.  On  Saturday  went  early  to  Aston  market  to  buy 
seed  potatoes,  father  and  2  Frenchmen  were  with  us;  on  our  way 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  l5 

to  the  village  we  caught  up  to  a  F'rench woman  from  France,  her 
first  husband  was  an  officer  in  the  French  army;   she  first  came  to 
Montreal  and   swindled  one  of  its  leading  citizens   out  cf  a  large 
sum  of  money  by  threatening  blackmail,  then  came  out  here  with 
a  man  said  to  be  her  cousin,  he  was  found  dead  a  short  time  after 
their  arrival  and  she  has  taken  another  partner,  Francis   Burke, 
the  cruel  wretch  who  burned  a  cat  alive;  at  present  she  is  cutting 
a  great  dash  on  the  monev  she  obtained  in  Montreal;  she  is  the 
cause  of  great  scandal  in  our  neighborhood.     She  is  well  educated 
and  a  wonderfully  fluent  conversationalist;  father  advised  me  not 
to  take  her  on  our  double  sleigh  but  I  told  him  that  it  would  be 
a  greater  disgrace  to  pass  a  poor  woman  with  a  six  mile  walk  be 
fore  her  on  a   frosty  morning;  of  course    if    the  others    had  not 
been  with  me  I  should  have  been  under  the  painful  necessity  of 
passing  her;  bought    lo  bushels  of  potatoes  at  35  cts.  a  bushel. 
We  have  great  difficulty  with  Blake,  who  keeps  continually  ask 
ing  for  money  on  the  contract;  we  however  adhere  chiefly  to  the 
contract  and  only  pay  in  proportion  as  the  work  advances;  fathjr 
told  us  if  we  continued  livin^r  on  farinaceous  food  onlv,  we  would 
get  consumptive  and  that  he  had   written    to   uncle  Richard  and 
was  determined   to   investigate   our   accounts;  told  him  we  had 
no   objection    to    show    him    or   any    one    else     our    accounts 
and    that  the    more     economical    we    could    live    the    better   as 
long  as  we  did    not  lose  our   health,  which    was    never   better 
than    at    present.     Mr.    Brodeur    returned  from    mass    with    a 
sprig    of  blessed    palm   which     French    Catholics    keep    hang 
ing  up  from  the  ceiling  throughout  the  year,  all  Canadians  regar.d 
it  with  veneration  and  will  not  remove  it  from  its  place   in  a  de- 
serted  house.     Saw  the  first  flock  of  crows  this  season;   Cousin 
Ethel  is  going  to  the  French  school  and  is  getting  quite  proficient 
in  French.     It  is   quite  amusing  to   see  my  aunt  and  Miss  Du- 
pont  trying  to  carry   on  conversation   as   neither  of  them  can 
converse  in  any  other  language  than  their  own.     To-day  the  25th 
March  is  my  birthday,  I  am  18   years  of  age.     There  has  been 
sufficient  mild  weather  to  enable  Guertin  to   start  his   saw  mill 
which  works  by  water;  chose  a  site   for  our  new   house    which 
will  be  rather  too  close  to  the  road  but  this  could  not  be  avoided 
©n  account  of  the  small  size  of  the  clearance;  30th  March  raining 


l6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

liard,  dense  fog,  the  snow  will  soon  be  gone.  Mrs.  C.  asked 
me  what  became  of  our  dear  mother's  personal  efTects.  I  am  sure 
it  is  none  of  her  business,  father  acted  mean  in  not  giving  me 
some  triflmg  article  that  my  mother  wore  as  a  momento.  31st 
went  to  Guertin's  gave  him  a  list  of  the  different  sizes'  of  lumber 
we  needed,  20  pieces  of  scantling  4  inches  x  4  for  braces  for  the 
barn,  13.00  ft.  of  lumber,  15  ft.  long  for  boarding  up  the  sides  of 
the  buildings  and  800  ft.  13  ft  long,  also  (,000  ft  12  ft  long  for 
roofing,  &c.  Napoleon  wanted  to  n  nt  a  sugar  kettle,  the  rent  is 
I  lb  of  sugar  for  the  season  for  every  bucket  of  sap  the  kettle  will 
contain.  In  coming  back  from  Guertin's  I  had  600  ft.  of  lumber 
on;  the  road  was  flooded  and  frozen  over  but  broke  through  and 
the  sleighs  became  immerged.  I  was  afraid  the  horses  would 
get  drowned  but  I  succeeded  in  unhitching  the  traces;  came  home 
on  horseback  at  full  gallop  nigh  half  frozen.  Dufresne  offered 
father  100  lbs  of  sugar  as  rent  for  his  sugar  bu=:h,  father  accepted 
it  as  a  good  offer,  as  half  the  trees  have  not  been  supplied  with 
troughs;  we  got  out  our  sleighs  with  difficulty,  we  should  not 
use  them  any  more  this  winter  as  the  roads  are  bare  in  many 
places,  which  quickly  wears  ont  the  shoeing  of  a  sleigh;  the  wet- 
ting I  got  gave  me  a  bad  cold  and  sore  throat.  Andrie  L.  has  a 
hired  man  one  of  the  smallest  and  i  )st  crabbed  specimens  of  hu- 
manity I  have  seen,  not  quite  4  ft.  high  and  in  his  face  can  be 
seen  the  misery  he  has  endured;  he  told  me  he  has  been  hard  at 
work  at  manual  labor  since  he  was  6  yrs  old,  which  no  doubt 
partially  accounts  for  his  being  a  dwarf;  he  was  married  at  14  yrs 
of  age  but  is  very  industrious  and  can  do  very  nearly  as  much 
work  as  an  ordinary  man.  Tom  sold  hay  to  Andre  at  $7  per  100 
bundles  of  15  lbs  each.  Our  lerters  to  our  friend  Mr.  Hogarth 
have  been  returned,  I  suppose  he  has  gone  to  some  new  place. 
Was  terribly  pestered  by  Blake  for  more  money  than  work  was 
done  for  on  the  buildings;  spent  the  evening  at  Mr.  Wheeler's; 
Mrs.  W.  is  of  the  opinion  that  farming  is  a  very  slow  means  of  mak- 
ing money,  says  that  Mr.  Meredith  is  sick  of  it  already  and  that  he 
pays  out  four  times  more  than  he  receives,  and  that  were  it  not 
for  the  ;^4000  a  yr.  that  he  eaiiis  as  mineralogist  his  scientific 
tarming  and  farm  would  be  a  complete  failure.  I  said  of  course 
his  farm  could  not  pay  expenses  for  the  first  few  years  on  account 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  1/ 

of  his  doing  every  improvement  in  such  first  class  style  and 
making  so  many  permai.^nt  improvements  on  his  place,  such  as 
adding  another  story  to  his  brick  house,  covering  it  with  slate, 
building  new  barns  and  stables,  fencing  his  place  anew,  pulling 
out  stones  and  making  underground  drains,  but  that  no  doubt  it 
would  in  after  yrs.  for  a  Scotchman  is  the  last  man  in  the  world  to 
spend  his  money  unwisely.  Louis'  wife  asked  me  if  I  saw  him; 
told  her  I  savv  him  at  Aston  House,  poor  thing  she  kr^w  well 
that  very  little  of  his  weeks  earnings  would  come  back  home; 
the  father  and  mother  encouraged  him  to  marry  her  and  settle 
down  for  they  feared  he  would  return  to  the  U.  S.  and  remain 
there;  Canadian  priests  discourage  emigration  to  the  U.  S.  as 
much  as  they  can  fearing  I  suppose  the  enlightning  effect  of 
American  institutions  on  their  followers.  The  wife  of  Maurice 
Dufresne  works  with  him  in  the  sugar  bush  and  actually  chops 
wood  and  hauls  sap,  wading  through  the  snow  in  masculine  at- 
tire with  two  heavy  buckets  f'^U  of  sap  in  either  hand;  Maurice 
said  to  me  you  ought  to  gc^  married,  you  see  you  could  make 
your  wife  earn  her  living  like  mine,  I  replied  I  would  sooner  die 
than  make  a  slave  of  the  woman  I  loved,  and  that  I  would  con- 
sider myself  worse  than  a  brute  if  I  allowed  the  object  of  my 
affections  to  suffer  the  slightest  hardship  whatever;  alas  nature 
has  dealt  hardly  with  this  woman  in  depriving  her  completely  of 
all  physical  beauty  and  at  the  saiue  time  giving  her  a  poor  and 
lazy  husband.  VVent  to  Beniots  to  buy  some  syrup,  his  wife 
was  watching  the  boiling  pots  while  her  husband  was  gathering 
the  sap;  she  is  the  best  looking  Frenchwoman  I  ever  saw,  even 
as  she  sat  on  the  rough  blocks  of  wood  dressed  in  the  poorest  of 
clothes  the  beauty  of  her  face  and  the  symmetry  of  her  figure 
would  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  most  unobserving,  how- 
ever as  I  am  not  a  connoisseur,  I  cannot  attempt  a  minute 
description,  I  was  greatly  surprised  with  her  beantiful  complexion, 
which  in  my  experience  is  a  rarity  among  Frenchwomen;  but 
to  use  a  novelist's  expression,  what  struck  me  most  was  the  hap- 
py combination  of  every  line  and  feature,not  one  of  which  detract- 
ed from  the  beauty  of  the  others;  how  often  do  we  see  a  beautiful 
face  spoiled  by  an  unsightly  nose  or  badly  shaped  mouth,  or  a 
beautiful  figure  spoiled  by  an  ugly  face;  as  the  wind  blew  the 


l8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA, 

smoke  into  her  face  causing  the  tears  to  start  into  her  eyes  1 
could  not  help  thinking  at  the  time  how  much  I  should  like  to 
see  her  change  places  with  some  fat  old  dowager  for  a  week  or 
so.     If  ruling  children  A^ith  a  rod  of  iron  makes  good  nien  and 
women,  my  cousins  ought  to  be,  ^or  their  parents  now  treat  them 
as  if  they  were  little  children  though  in  reality  they  ought  to  be 
considered  young  men  ai.d  women,  and  their  parents  still  dictate 
to  them' in  every  thing;  uncle  and  aunt  have  become  more  relig- 
ious of  late  and  have  prayers  occasionally  in  the  evening;  it  is 
wonderful  what  a  change  takes  place  in  some  people  as  old  age 
advances    upon   them.     Called  at  Israel's  house,  only  his    wife 
was  at  home;  said  she  could  not  pay  what  was  owed  us  for  cut 
of  square  timber;  this  woman  is  very  masculine  in  some  ways; 
she  can  chop  wood  as   good  as  any  man;  she   cleared  over  two 
acres  of  brush  wood  on  father's  lot  by  herself  as  her  father  was 
unable  to  perform  the  job  after  he  had  taken   it;  although  this 
woman  has  the  strength  of  a  man  she  has  not  the  courage  of 
many  women,  and  allows  her  insignificant  husband  to  beat  her 
out  of  the  house  when  he   is    drunk.     The    stars    can  be    seen 
through  the  roof  of  the  shanty  they  live  in  and  the  floor  is  hewn 
logs;  it  is  the  oldest  house  about  here  and  is  in  such  a  state  of 
decay  that  if  theyjdo  not  leave  it    it  will  fall  down    upon  them. 
Napoleon  told  me  he  is  engaged  in  a  lawsuit  with  J.  Murphy  and 
would  have  to  sell  all  the  sugar  and  syrup  he  made  to  pay  his 
lawyers  fee,  and  that  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  50  pails  of 
sap  by  getting  it  in  an  old  trough  which  burst;  the  lawsuit  is  about 
a  $25  horse  Murphy  sold  to  Gilbert  Miguault;  Napoleon  says  he 
signed  as  witness;  Murphy  asserts  that  it  was  as  security;  strange 
Murphy  does  not  leave  law  alone,  seeing  he  burnt  his  fingers  at 
it  once.     Had  a  dispute  with  some  Frenchmen  about  some  land; 
the  time  the  division  lines  were  changed  Murphy  ordered  the  two 
men  off  the  land,  (that  they  gained  by  the  change)  till  they  paid 
for  the  improvements,  they  had  axes  in  their  hands  and  advanced 
towards  him,  he  attacked  them,  wrenching  the  axe  from  one  of 
them  and  cut  him  sorely  with  it,  a  lawsuit  was  the  result,  in  which 
Murphy  lost   ^600  which   crippled   him    financially   for   years. 
During  the  week  we  piled  our  lumber  at  Guertin's  leaving  spaces 
between  each  board  t(  let  the  air  through  it  to  dry  it.     Received 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I9 

a  letter  from  uncle  Richard,  "my  dear  Tom  and  Arthur  I  would 
have  written  long  ere  this  but  have  been  occupied  in  many  ways 
so  that  I  could  not  write;  Doherty  has  paid  another  ^150  which 
I  duly  credited  to  your  account,  he  did  not  say  one  word  about 
the  lot  and  asked  me  to  g.ve  him  till  July  for  the  $100;  it  is  for 
you  to  say  wether  I  shall  do  it  or  not;  you  will  oblige  by  letting 
me  know  your  wish  on  this  matter,  I  also  want  to  know  wliether 
you  will  require  the  mare;  my  little  mare  is  quite  well  again  and 
I  think  she  will  be  quite  sufficient  for  my  work  during  the  sum- 
mer; the  mare  is  in  fine  condition  just  now  and  has  improved 
much  since  you  saw  her,  whatever  you  require  for  yourselves  or 
the  house  let  me  l^now  and  I  will  send  your  order  out  to  you. 
Has  the  man  begun  the  house  yet  ?  I  must  conclude,  believe 
me  to  remain  your  affectionate  uncle  Richard."  ".St.  Augustian 
April  1st,  Mr.  J.  Howard,  dear  sir,  you  wrote  to  me  some  time 
ago  requesting  me  to  get  the  line  drawn  between  my  lot  and 
yours,  I  think  it  would  be  best  to  do  it  before  the  bark  peeling 
season  commences,  as  Doherty  might  peel  some  trees  on  my  lot; 
jhoping  you  are  all  well,  your  sincere  friend  Philip  Therman." 
Had  a  long  conversation  with  Mr.  Baker  on  farming,  he  is  one 
of  the  shrewdest  business  men  in  the  county  of  Sussex;  he  has 
been  manager  of  Sharp's  tannery  for  a  great  many  years,  many 
ay  he  has  ''feathered  his  own  nest,"  by  taking  enormous  meas- 
re  when  buying  bark,  giving  the  poor  "habitants"  a  cord  and  a 
uarter  for  i}4  cords,  and  marking  down  i^  cords  in  Sharp's 
ooks  and  pocketing  the  quarter  himself,  this  caused  the  "hab- 
tants"  to  curse  him  with  every  curse  imaginable  which  he  listened 
o  with  indfierence,  measuring  the  work  as  if  he  were  an  automa^ 
on.  He  also  speculated  in  bark,  himself  and  a  few  years  ago  owned 
s  much  as  45000  acres,  which  he  has  been  selling  off  since  he 
as  dismissed  from  Sharp's  service;  bought  window  frames  at 
5  cents  each,  and  two  doors,  one  at  ;^i.5o  the  other  at  ;^3.oo. 
th  April,  snowed  2  inches  during  the  night;  there  is  more  trou- 
le  than  one  would  imagine  in  starting  on  a  bush  farm;  men 
other  us  for  money  before  the  value  is  done  in  work,  also  have 
2ars  that  they  will  give  up  their  jobs,  also  that  bad  roads  may 
revent  us  from  furnishing  the  lumber  in  time  for  the  buildings; 
ommenced  digging  our  cellar;  on  getting  about  3^    feet   deep 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENXH  IN  AiMERICA. 

struck  water,  surface  water  from  a  small  swamp  in  the  top  of  the 
hill;  Tom  has  given  ilic  job  of  building  the  foundation  of  the 
barn  to  a  stone  mason  for  $i^,  we  to  furnish  all  the  materials,  he 
to  help  us  dig  the  stones.  Mallet,  Doherty's  hired  man,  had  a 
row  with  old  Doherty;  the  old  man  called  a  French  Protestant 
family,  their  neighbors,  turncoats.  Mallet  remonstrated  and  the 
old  mail  tried  to  kick  him  out,  but  he  doused  Doherty  in  a  barrel 
of  water,  for  which  he  dismissed  him;  the  cause  of  Doherty's  an- 
imosity is  the  fear  that  his  oldest  son  Bartholemew  will  marry 
the  daughter,  who  is  a  Protestant.  Started  for  lime,  Chartier  the 
mason  said  3  barricks  or  18  bushels  would  be  sufficient.  St. 
Marie  is  composed  of  a  single  street,  comprising  a  large  brick, 
church,  post  office,  cheese  factory,  a  few  small  groceries  and  far- 
mers houses,  which  look  well  surrounded  by  fine  orchards;  the 
lime  is  burnt  in  an  oven  shaped  like  a  dome  with  an  opening  in  ■ 
the  top;  the  roads  were  bad  and  the  horses  got  played  out  and  I 
had  to  get  a  farmer  with  his  team  to  draw  the  load  home.  I 
wrote  to  Uncle  Richard  saying  We  would  buy  his  mare  if  he 
would  give  us  time  to  pay  for  her;  Tom  and  I  asked  fithcr  if  he 
had  any  money  to  spare,  he  said  he  could  lend  us  ;$ioo  and  that 
it  would  be  just  as  well  as  in  the  bank.  Bergeron  asked  us  $60 
for  a  pair  of  cattle;  we  offered  ;^40  cash  which  he  accepted,  giv- 
ing us  a  yoke  and  chain  with  them;  gave  the  job  of  drawing 
lumber  from  Guertin's  mill  to  St.  John  for  ;^i.50  per  1000  ft. 
Tried  the  oxen  at  plowing,  they  are  well  trained  and  go  right  or 
left  as  told;  I  went  to  Richford  about  doors  and  windows;  the 
falls  looked  fine  with  masses  of  ice  being  dashed  to  pieces  on  the 
rocks  below,  they  are  over  50  ft.  high,  almost  perpendicular  and 
strange  to  say  a  horse  and  cart  were  carried  over  them  on  a  hiige 
mass  of  ice  and  escaped  with  only  a  few  bruises.  A  carpenter 
asked  40  cents  a  case  to  make  cases  for  the  windows.  Miss  Mc- 
Neill told  me  jokingly  that  when  our  house  was  finished  she  was 
going  to  marry  Tom  and  keep  house  for  us,  I  answered  her  in 
the  same  strain;  she  has  pleasing  features  and  is  a  coquette  by 
nature.  J.  Blake  has  finished  putting  up  our  house;  had  to  go 
to  Aston  for  spikes  to  spike  the  rafters  to  the  top  plates.  De- 
lage,  sr.,  the  postmaster,  would  not  give  me  our  letters  because 
I  was  5  minutes  late,  he  is  a  very  disobliging  man   and   several 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  31 

requisitions  have  been  made  to  the  postmaster  general  for  his  re- 
moval but  to  no  avail  as  he  is  a  f  litliful  old  conservative.  At 
Aston  House  a  Yankee  had  one  side  of  the  parlor  covered  with 
numbered  photographs,  which  he  sold  at  25  cents  each;  they 
are  numbered  and  the  men  that  got  the  right  numbers  got  prizes 
ran<^i«ig  from  $5  to  10.  When  the  rafters  were  put  on  our  house 
Blake  put  an  evergreen  bough  on  the  top  of  the  end  rafters;  all 
the  French  per.ple  around  do  so;  the  'habitants"  call  it  "La  Bo- 
quet."  Louis  asked  permission  to  take  some  tamarac  to  make 
fence  pins  as  it  is  less  brittle  and  stronger  than  cedar.  Mary 
Dupins  and  her  husband  died  in  the  U.  S.  their  7  children  are 
to  be  divided  between  Brodeur,  their  grandfather  and  an  uncle  at 
East  Hastings.  Mallet  has  returned  to  Doherty's,  which  shows 
very  little  spirit  after  the  treatment  he  received,  but  the  powerful 
influence  of  cupid  few  mefl  can  resist;  poor  Mallet  is  captivated 
by  the  charms  of  Doherty's  youngest  daughter,  but  to  no  pur- 
pose, Miss  D.  aspires  higher  than  a  farm  laborer,  at  any  rate  she 
has  often  emphatically  asserted  that  she  never  will  marry  a  her- 
etic, although  her  two  sisters  have  done  so,  but  they  married 
above  their  position,  which  perhaps  not  even  their  youngest 
daughter  would  ngt  object  to,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  she  will 
ever  get  the  chance  as  she  has  not  the  beauty  of  her  sisters,  and 
the  extreme  angularity  of  her  features  spoils  the  effect  of  a  clear 
complexion  and  fine  figure,  &c.  Maurice  D.  cleared  off  with  all 
the  sugar  he  made  and  only  gave  father  a  few  lbs.;  father  want- 
ed us  to  work  it  but  we  could  not  with  all  our  own  work  on  our 
hands,  the  G.  boys  however  took  it  on  halves  for  the  rest  of  the 
season.  Wrote  to  Uncle  Jerrold,  Dear  uncle,  excuse  my  not  an- 
swering your  kind  letter  sooner;  all  the  timber  of  the  barn  is 
squared  and  framed  ready  to  raise;  to-morrow  the  stone  mason 
will  begin  on  the  foundation;  most  of  the  barns  around  here  are 
built  on  wooden  posts  as  it  costs  less  but  is  not  as  cheap  in  the 
end  as  the  posts  decay.  We  thought  we  might  as  well  build  a 
small  house  as  living  in  part  of  the  barn  would  be  dangerous  on 
account  of  fire,  but  as  you  suggest  when  we  can  build  a  better 
one  we  can  convert  it  into  a  barn;  the  logs  and  the  rafters  of  the 
house  are  put  up;  we  intend  to  do  the  boarding,  shingling  and 
laying  down  of  the  floor  ourselves,  and  are  going  to  have  a  cellar 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

12  ft.  deep  dug  underneath  and  a  stone  foundation  built,  as  yet 
we  have  not  cleared  out  the  stream  but  when  the  dry  weather 
comes  we  will  commence  to  do  so;  I  think  the  best  way  to  have 
it  cleared  will  be  to  get  a  process  verbal  for  it,  that  is  to  get  a  no- 
tary to  follow  the  course  of  the  stream  and  count  all  the  lots 
that  send  water  into  it  and  get  a  legal  document  passed  in  the 
municipal  council  to  oblige  all  the  land  holders  to  work  at  the 
stream  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  their  land  that  drains  into 
it;  the  times  are  very  dull  in  Canada  as  you  say,  farmers  will  not 
suffer  as  much  as  mechanics  or  commercial  men,  in  fact  agricul- 
tural produce  sells  nearly  as  high  as  usual  and  labor  is  at  half 
the  price  that  was  charged  a  few  years  ago,  other  items  end  the 
letter.  Read  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  a  second  time,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  books  I  ever  read.  Drew  sand  and  stones 
to  the  mason;  he  asks  $30  to  build  a  foundation  under  the  bank 
12  ft.  high  and  $1$  if  we  furnish  the  material;  found  a  snake  2  ft. 
long;  it  is  a  different  species  from  the  common  kind  around  here; 
preserved  it  in  high  wines  and  sent  it  to  cousin  Clifford  in  Mont- 
/£al,  who  has  a  large  collection  of  minerals  and  curiosities.  Our 
Jog  Carlo  is  a  great  fighter;  some  of  our  neiji^hbors  consider  dog 
fights  great  sport;  in  my  opinion  men  must  be  very  brutal  in- 
deed to  be  pleasea  with  such  a  cruel  pastime.  Most  of  our  neigh- 
bors spend  their  evenings  in  playing  cards  or  worthless  conver- 
sation; I  can  well  imagine  how  the  civilized  and  nobler  men  of 
future  ages  will  read  with  pity  and  contempt  how  the  majority 
of  mankind  of  this  age  employed  their  time;  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  Tom  and  myself  have  drifted  into  this  bad  habit  and  waste 
hours  of  our  time  in  this  manner.  This  spring  I  have  found  out 
the  truth  of  "the  borrower  is  servant  to  the  lender."  It  is  a  poor 
system  at  best  and  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible  by 
farmers;  I  have  seen  a  Frenchman  lose  half  a  day  in  going  to  a 
neighbors  to  borrow  a  scythe;  now  the  cost  of  a  scythe  and  han- 
dle is  only;^2.25;  so  that  this  man  who  makes  a  habit  of  borrowing 
spends  as  much  time  in  walking  to  and  fro  as  would  buy  10 
scythes.  Father  has  returned  with  the  new  boy  from  Norfolk 
Distributing  Home;  I  walked  to  Aston;  received  a  letter  from 
uncle  Richard:  "My  dear  boys  I  received  your  letter  yesterday 
and  herewith  enclose  you  $50;  if  you  want  the  mare  you  are  per- 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  23 

fectly  welcome  to  her,  as  regards  the  payment  you  can  suit  your 
convenience;  since  slie  was  in  town  she  went  lame  on  one  foot.and 
the  veterinary  surgeon  told  me  she  took  cold  in  the  shoulder 
from  her  stall  being  situated  in  a  current  of  air  between  two 
doors,  however  you  can  lake  her  but  I  trust  it  will  be  gone  be- 
fore you  come  hi;  I  am  glad  you  have  bought  oxen  for  they  are 
most  useful  on  a  bush  farm;  Arthur  can  come  in  at  any  time  it 
suits  him,  as  you  will  want  the  balance  of  the  money  he  can  have 
it  whenever  he  likes;  we  are  all  well  here,  aunt  unites  in  love, 
believe  me  to  remain  your  affectionate  uncle,  R,  J.  Goldsmith." 
At  Vednar's  store  I  changed  the  $^o  note,  largo  bills  are  useful 
to  him  in  settling  his  accounts  in  Montreal;  he  wanted  to  sell  me 
some  pine  shingles  at  $2.25  a  case,  but  planed  shingles  made  by 
hand  are  better  than  sawn  ones;  Tom  and  I  had  a  difference  about 
Sherman's  hay,  a  private  spec  of  his  own;  he  wanted  to  sell  it  to 
our  firm  but  I  considered  he  asked  too  high  a  price;  he  said  I 
wanted  to  grind  him  down  as  I  did  everyone  else  I  had  transac- 
tions with;  I  told  him  that  as  regards  making  too  hard  a  bargain 
in  this  part  of  the  country  it  was  nigh  an  impossibility  as  nearly 
everyone  had  two  sets  of  prices,  laborers  as  well  as  storekeepers, 
and  that  to  protect  one's  self  one  had  to  beat  down  their  prices, 
My  aunt  and  Walter  passed  in  a  cart  on  their  way  to  Aston; 
they  of  a  truth  do  not  "live  for  appearances;"  it  is  all  very  well 
not  to  waste  money  on  a  costly  carriage  as  the  roads  are  bad  but 
for  respectable  people  of  moderate  means  a  cart  for  a  means  of 
conveyance  is  carrying  Diogenism  too  far.  Lapointe  has  taken 
the  job  of  building  a  foundation  to  the  house  for  ^15;  he  fur- 
nishes everything  except  lime;  this  damp  sloppy  weather  is  hard 
on  boots  and  shoes,  they  have  to  be  greased  often  to  preserve 
them;  I  told  Andre  he  would  have  to  give  his  note  for  the  amount 
he  was  owing  Tom  for  hay;  he  seemed  offended  but  I  told  him 
it  was  customary  nowadays  in  transacting  business;  met  D. 
Doherty  at  Laporte's  notorial  office  with  Lapointe  who  has  lost 
his  lot  of  land  without  receiving  scarcely  any  benefit  for  it;  he 
agreed  to  peel  100  cords  of  bark  for  Doherty  but  through  mis- 
fortune only  peeled  80;  Doherty  who  had  paid  him  full  in  advance 
threatened  to  sue  him  if  he  did  not  give  him  a  note  for  ^^40,  ;$20 
which  he  received  and  ^20  damages  for  not  fulfilling  his  contract; 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

to  this  Lapointe  consented  and  usury  did  the  rest,  leaving  him 
to-day  without  a  home;  truly  this  Doherty  nearly  rivals  a  Shy- 
lock;  bought  25   bushels  of  oats  at  50  cents  a  bushel.     On  my 
way  home  I  went  into  a  brown  study  over  the  disadvantages  of 
Tom  and  I  passing  the  rest  of  our  lives   among  the  vulgar  and 
bad  associations  with  which  we  are  surrounded;  it  seems  to  me 
that  man  must  have  good  society  to  live  a  truly  happy  and  noble 
life,  one  cannot  hear  vulgar  and  vile  conversation  without  having 
the  finer  sensibility  of  one's  nature  blunted  and  destroyed  by  it. 
The  man  who  brought   us  oats  from  the  "French  country"  can 
read  moderately  well  in  English  which  suiprised  us,  as  most  of 
the  French  cannot   read  even   in  their  own  language,  but  their 
number  is  decreasing  among  the  rising  generation,  all  through 
the  beneficial  result  of  English  influence  are  being  educated;  the 
term  French  country  is  applied  by   English  settlers    to  those 
parishes  where  there  are  no  English  residents.     This  man  says 
we  are  fouls  to  waste  our  time  and  money  here  as  we  will  never 
be  able  to  sell  it  for  what  it  costs;  I  considered  I  had  a  good 
memory  for  faces  but  was  mortified  when  he  reminded  me  of 
our  meeting  a  year  ago,  however  his  features  are  by  no  means 
impressive,  beautiful  and  hideous  faces  are  the  easiest  to  remem- 
ber, those  of  ordinary  appearance  last  of  all.     Uncle  H.  told  me 
we  had  no  right  to  expect  Jonathan  to  pay  us  for  the  wood  we 
sold  him;  1  thought  to  myself  you  are  a  mean  grasping  old  man, 
so  I  cancelled  the  debt;  24th  April  we  find  that  on  account  of 
rocks  we  have  to  give  up  the  idea  of  a  cellar  deeper  than  4  ft. 
Tom  and  I  ploughed  a  piece  of  land  on  our  lots  for  potatoes. 
J.  Blake  had  a  "bee"  to  day  and  raised  the  barn;  received  a  letter 
from  uncle  Richard,  "my  dear  boy  I  was  not  surprised  at  your 
father  getting  another  boy,  avoid  all  quarrelling  and  giving   of- 
fence, in  your  new  house  have  a  room  fitted  up  for  him;  let  him 
live  with  you  if  he  likes  it,  for  it  will  eventually  come  to  that, 
but  you  must  have  command  of  your  own  place;  if  ever  he  gets 
to  live  with  you  it  must  be  with  the  understanding  that  he  is  not 
to  interfere  with  you  in  any  way  whatever.     Russia  has  declared 
war  with  Turkey;  flour  and  pork  have  gone  up  and  are  still 
going  up,  your  affectionate  uncle,  Richard."     Bought  a  bushel 
of  seed  buckwheat  for  one  dollar;  some  farmers  only  sow  ]^  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2$ 

a  bushel  to  an  acre  of  land  with  stumps  in  it,  as  it  sends  out  so 
many  stalks  from  one  seed.  Read  a  book  called  "the  Crusades 
and  the  Crusaders/'which  shows  what  fools  the  christians  of  the 
middle  ages  were;  went  to  Guertin's  mill  through  the  wood  at 
night,  felt  somewhat  afraid  although  I  really  had  nothing  to  be 
afraid  of,  as  bears  are  scarce,  robbers  unknown  and  ghosts  I  do 
not  believe  in;  but  all  men  are  born  with  a  certain  amount  of  natural 
fear;  the  heroes  and  the  brave  are  those  who  conquer  and  subdue 
the  natural  fear  and  timidity  of  man.  Read  in  the  Witness,  the  Turks 
have  gained  a  few  advantages  over  the  Russians,  but  the  Russians 
are  certain  to  crush  them  in  the  long  run;  father  said  ,he  would 
require  i.he  money  he  lent  us  as  he  was  'i-unning  short.  2nd  of 
May  ToQi  harrowed  a  piece  o(hnd  ^or  potatoes^I  "underbrushed;" 
this  is  the  iirst  thing  that  has  to  be  done  in  clearing  lan.d,Jthe  trees 
are  then  cut  down,  their  branches^c^ut  and  piled  and  their  trunks 
cut  mt-o  12  ft  lengths;  the  brash  should  be  burnt  off  before  piling 
the  logs  as  the  brush  would  be  an  encumberance;  if  the  weather 
is  dry  and  woodlands  of  value  are  near,  a  calm  day  is  preferable, 
as  there  is  less  risk  of  the  fire  running;  if  no  wood  of  value  is 
near  a  day  with  a  strong  breeze  is  best  as  the  fire  spreads  better; 
a  small  piece  of  partially  decayed  wood  will  burn  several  hours; 
on  arriving  at  a  brush  pile  it  has  only  to  be  held  close  to  the 
brush  and  blown  gently  with  one's  breath  till  a  flame  starts  up, 
but  with  hardwood  brush  when  the  leaves  are  not  on  it  small 
chips  have  to  be  collected  to  start  it  for  this  reason,  it  is  preferable 
I  to  cut  brushwood  before  the  leaves  have  fallen  from  it;  after  the 
jbrush  piles  have  burnt  about  two  hours  they  have  to  be  thrown 
together,  as  even  the  dryest  of  brush  piles  have  a  fringe  ofun- 
burnt  brush  about  the  edges  which  should  be  thrown  together 
(before  the  fire  died  out;  there  are  different  opinions  as  to  whether 
joxen  or  horses  are  most  preferable  for  logging;  a  strong  horse 
[is  best  on  high  dry  smooth  ground,  as  a  horse  moves  quicker, 
[but  in  low  swampy  land  or  on  rocky  highland  with  many  roots 
)xen  are  preferable;  four  men  are  quite  sufficient  to  work  with 
)xen  or  a  horse;  a  small  active  boy  to  chain  the  logs  greatly 
hastens  the  work;  the  pilers  have  to  carry  all  the  small  timber 
)n  to  the  log  pile,  that  is  not  worth  while  hitching  the  team  to, 
rhere  they  are  too  far  to  carry  the  pilers  place  them  in  small . 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

piles  SO  that  the  teamster  can  hitch  on  to  them  all  at  once;  the 
choosing  of  the  spot  for  the  log  pile  is  generally  left  to  the  driver 
on  account  of  his  wishing  to  avoid  driving  his  team  in  rooty 
or  muddy  places,  of  course  at  the  same  time  he  consults  the  ad- 
vantage of  his  men  by  choosing  an  easy  place  to  roll  the  logs 
and  place  their  skids,  also  to  place  the  piles  on  level  land,  or 
still  better  in  hollows  to  prevent  their  rolling  apart  when  burn- 
ing; the  driver  although  he  has  not  as  much  hard  labor  as  the 
pilers  has  by  far  the  most  disagreeable  job,  having  often  to  use 
his  hand  in  cold  damp  weather  and  scrape  a  hole  in  the  wet 
earth  or  mud  underneath  the  log,  when  it  is  laying  partly  im- 
bedded in  the  earth  from  having  lain  there  for  years  and  pass  the 
hook  underneath  the  log  and  hook  it  on  the  other  side;  some- 
times roots  or  rocks  prevents  him  from  doing  this  and  he  then 
has  to  try  and  hitch  his  chain  to  a  knot  or  end  of  a  branch,  and 
if  this  fails  to  stir  the  imbedded  log  he  shouts  "lever"  and  one  or 
two  of  the  piler-s  have  to  come  and  lift  the  "sog,"  by  which  name 
wet  and  rotten  logs  are  called;  this  is  generally  put  on  top  of  the 
pile  as  it  would  not  burn  if  placed  at  the  bottom;  to  be  a  good 
driver  one  must  have  inexhaustable  good  humor,  great  agility 
and  know  all  the  rules  as  regard  ''chaining,"  and  unchaining, 
giving  roll  to  the  chain,  lengthening  it  and  shortening  it  and  pre- 
venting it  from  getting  over  the  oxens'  backs;  when  pulling  a 
log  from  a  height;  the  pile  itself  to  burn  well  requires  to  be  at 
least  four  logs  high  and  put  together  as  closely  as  possible,  in 
dry  weather  the  piles  put  together  during  the  day  should  be  set 
on  fire  in  the  evening  and  then  shoved  together  in  the  morning; 
some  piles  when  they  are  damp  require  a  great  amount  of  chips 
and  small  sticks  to  start  them  burning,  in  very  dry  weather  by 
constantly  shoving  the  piles  together  they  burn  up  completely, 
especially  hardwood,  of  which  maple  burns  the  best  and  ranks 
as  the  best  quality  of  firewood,  but  in  most  cases  the  remnants 
of  all  the  piles  have  to  be  hauled  together  in  one  large  pile  and 
burnt;  if  grain  is  to  be  sown  two  bushels  of  oats  is  sufficient  to 
an  acre,  which  is  sown  on  the  burnt  black  surface  of  the  earth 
and  is  then  "harrowed  in;"  a  strong  narrow  harrow  shaped  like 
a  letter  V,  a  narrow  harrow  being  necessary  to  pass  between  the 
numberless  stumps,  also  a  man  to  follow  the  teamster  with  a  hoc 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2/ 

to  cover  the  grain  where  the  harrow  cannot  get  at  it,  sometimes 
the  harrow  has  to  pass  four  or  five  times  over  rooty  ground  before 
the  grain  is  covered;  sometimes  a  harrow  will  be  thrown  as 
much  as  three  ft  high  wlien  it  strikes  a  root  or  rock;  I  have  known 
one  man  to  have  his  ancle  sprained  by  the  harrow  striking  his 
leg.  I  went  to  Montreal  on  the  ist  of  May,  went  on  a  fishing 
excursion  with  cousin  Clifford  to  Lake  St.  Louis,  but  only  caught 
a  few  small  fish  as  it  was  too  early  in  the  season;  brought  back 
the  mare  with  me.  Father  received  the  following  letter  from 
uncle  Richard;  "my  dear  Jonathan,  according  to  instructions  I 
have  forwarded  you  a  barrel  of  flour  and  Indian  meal,  a  parcel  of 
grass  seeds,  I  could  only  get  one  kind  of  vetch;  since  the  stoppage 
of  the  sugar  refinery  here  there  is  no  golden  syrup  to  be  had  in 
town,  the  buckwheat  flour  they  do  not  keep  in  the  stores  here  in 
summer,  as  they  tell  me  it  is  very  apt  to  heat  and  spoil;  the  prices 
of  provisions  are  rising  rapidly;  on  account  of  the  war  rice  is  high 
just  now,  6  cents  a  lb;  we  had  a  letter  from  Richard  yesterday  he 
is  enjoying  himself  in  London;  for  want  of  news  I  must  conclude. 
Yours  very  affectionately,  R.  J.  Goldsmith."  May  i6th,  "My 
dear  boys.  You  need  not  annoy  yourselves  about  that  contract 
with  Blake  you  can  neither  sue  or  be  sued  so  if  you  have  not 
overpaid  him  you  are  all  right;  the  height  of  the  rooms  in  the 
house  should  be  at  least  ic  ft,  12  ft  is  the  ordinary  height  in 
Montreal,  and  is  none  too  high,  rest  lost."  Tom  gave  me  a,  note 
[for  what  he  owes  me,  which  is  now  ;^I33;  he  has  decided  to  keep 
[the  mare  we  bought  as  a  private  speculation.  During  May  we 
>lanted  oats  aud  potatoes,  cleared  land  and  did  work  on  our 
louse.  Wrote  to  uncle  Richard:  "My  dear  uncle  I  have  just 
irrived  home,  I  took  a  little  over  a  day  to  drive  the  75  miles, 
the  mare  is  a  good  traveler  and  seemed  just  as  fresh  at  the  end 
)f  the  journey  as  at  the  beginning.  D.  Doherty  has  been  going 
)ver  our  lots  and  has  offered  us  $$0  if  we  will  take  back  the  cut 
)f  the  hemlock  bark;  I  do  not  see  why  he  should  make  such  an 
)fter  unless  the  price  of  bark  has  fallen  in  Boston  or  that  he  over 
istimated  the  amount  of  bark  on  the  lots.  Blake  has  broke  his 
-|:ontract  with  us  and  deserted  his  job  but  fortunately  we  have 
|iot  overpaid  him  and  can  easily  get  the  buildings  finished  for 
\vhat  we  owe  him.     I  trust  my  aunt  is  better  from  the  effects  of 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  . 

the  fall  and  sprained  ancle,  with  love  to  my  aunt  and  cousins,  I 
remain  your  aftectionate  nephew,  A.  Howard."  W?nt  to  Mere- 
diths; Mr.  M.  is  in  New  York  seeing  about  some  mines;  Mrs. 
M,  was  very  cordial  and  friendly,  she  is  a  model  hostess  and  can 
equally  entertain  the  rustic  farmer  or  the  polished  gentleman; 
enquired  if  they  had  any  tar  left  from  what  they  bought  to  tar 
the  roofs  of  their  barns;  said  I  would  buy  it  to  tar  our  roofs; 
she  told  me  that  Tom  Bacon  had  bought  Littleton's  house  and 
grounds  on  speculation  and  she  thought  it  would  be  so  nice  for 
us  to  buy  it  from  him  and  live  in  the  village  instead  of  out  in  the 
backwoods,  also  that  her  son  Nicholas  was  at  an  Agricultural 
College  at  Guelph,  to  learn  the  science  of  farm'  •  that  he  worked 
at  manual  labor  at  the  rate  of  six  hours  a  day,  lor  which  he  was 
paid  50  cents  an  hour;  everything  is  performed  in  the  most  ap- 
proved manner  on  the  model  farm  and  in  the  college.  The 
weather  was  dry  enough  to  burn  the  brush  on  the  land  we  were 
clearing  on  the  12  May;  lived  on  very  plain  and  substantial 
food  during  these  months  to  economize,  and  find  that  we  are  just 
as  healthy  as  if  we  had  all  the  delicacies  of  the  season.  Saw 
Andrie's  baby,  it  is  the  blackest  and  smallest  little  Caucasian  I 
ever  laid  my  eyes  on.  Doherty  is  making  three  wagon  roads 
through  the  lots  which  is  an  advantage  for  us.  Logging  is  very 
disagreeable  work,  one  gets  black  as  a  nigger  among  the  charred 
timber,  tor  there  are  multitudes  of  mosquitoes,  sand  flies  and  mid- 
ges, that  keep  constantly  getting  into  ones  ej^es,  ears  nose  and 
mouth  which  keeps  one  constantly  rubbing  ones  face  with  ones 
hands.  Father  tells  us  the  Russians  are  getting  beat  by  the 
Turks,  but  of  course  it  will  only  be  a  temporary  advantage,  the 
bravest  of  the  brave  can  hardly  resist  ten  to  one.  On  Sunday 
went  on  a  fishing  and  bathing  excursion  with  jny  cousins;  1  see 
no  harm  in  taking  innocent  pleasure  and  recreation  on  a  Sunday, 
it  is  no  holier  than  any  other  day;  to  consider  it  so  is  only  a  rem- 
nant of  superstitious  barbarism;  a  good  action  may  be  performed 
on  any  day  wi;hout  committing  sin,  and  bad  actions  should  al- 
ways be  avoided  on  no  matter  what  day;  but  it  has  become 
universally  acknowledged  that  an  occasional  day  of  rest  is  necess- 
ary and  beneficial  to  man,  and  it  is  more  convenient  that  one 
certain  day  should  be  set  apart  that  all  men  might  rest  and  take 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  Z9 

recreation  at  the  sani       :ne;  it  is  however  simply  absurd  to  try 
and  compel  all  men  t^    act  with  what  is  considered  especially 
saint-like  conduct  on  a  Sunday,  only  to  read  musty  theological 
works  and  to  observe  the  day  with  grave  and  solemn  deportment 
and  conversation;  I  often  felt  how  supremely  ridiculous  it  appear- 
ed to  have  a  mother  tell  her  little  child  that  it  was  a  sin  to  engage 
in  harmless  childish  sports  on  a  Sunday  or  to    read  any  books, 
excepting  those  devoted   to  a  description  of  the  golden  streets 
and  harps  of  heaven  and  other  heavenly  fiction,  which  have  only 
been  concocted  in  the  brains  of  some  religious  novelist,  or  why 
do  some  people  consider  it  a  sin  for  factory  people  who  are  shut 
up  all  week  in  a  hot  smoky  dusty  city,  to  go  out  on  Sunday  into 
the  country  and  enjoy  the  pure  air  of  heaven,  admire  the  beauties 
of  nature,  truly  this  is  as  pleasing  to  God  as  to  see  them  sitting 
in  a   crowded  church  listening   to  some  threadbare  arguments 
and  discourses  th'dt  have  been  repeated  to  the  christian  world 
for  the  last  eighteen   hundred  years,  or  to  the  discussion  of  im- 
aginary things  which  are  of  no   earthly  consequence  to   man's 
happiness   or  development.     What  good  I  would  like  to  know 
has  all  the  arguments  advanced   upon  the  doctrines  of  the  holy 
trinity  conferred  on  poor  mechanics  or  any  other  portion  of  man- 
kind, and  the   worst  feature  of  it  is  that  most  clergy^men  devote 
most  of  their  time   to   doctrinal   teaching,  whereas    if  Suiiday- 
Schools    and  clergymen    taught    nature's   aud   moral    iaws  and 
scientific  truths  instead  of  their  doctrinal  hash  mankind  would  be 
the  happier  and  nobler  for  it.     Wrote  to  Allen  Robertson  a  friend 
of  mine  in  New  Brunswick;  ''My   d^ar  Allen,  I    have  just   re- 
turned from    a  fishing   excursion    on    Lake    Louis;    went    from 
Montreal  to  Lachine  by  railway  and  from  Lachine  to  Beauharnois 
by  boat,  after  a  whole  days  fishing  and  trolling  we  caught  only 
a  few  small  fish;    we  rowed  quite  close  to  the  foot  of    Cedar 
Rapids  and  then  rowed  up  the  St.  Louis  river,  where  we  expected 
to  have  better  success  as  the  water  was  warmer  but  without  re- 
sult; on  returning  we  shot  the    Lacine   Rapids,  it  was  not  so 
thrilling  as  I  expected,  from  the  description  I  saw  of  it  in  books. 
This  Spring  we  have  cleared  ten  acres  of  land  and  will  sow  them 
with  oats  and  grass  seed;  land  newly  cleared  is  best  under  grass 
as  it  is  too  rough  to  keep  under  cultivation,  have  also  planted 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA, 

eleven  bushels  of  potatoes;  have  not  moved  to  our  lots  yet  as  the 
buildings  are  not  quite  finished.  At  present  we  are  trying  to  get 
a  "process  verbal"  for  a  stream  that  runs  through  our  land;  if 
we  can  get  it  passed  through  Aston  muncipal  council,  the  stream 
will  be  dug  4  ft  deep,  7  ft  wide  and  all  the  brush  and  logs  clear- 
ed away  on  either  bank;  the  distance  to  be  dug  is  about  ten  miles 
and  our  part  of  it  will  cost  about  $200,  but  the  advantage  will  be 
great  as  it  will  drain  nearly  300  acres  of  our  land;  conclude  with 
other  news.  There  has  been  several  thunder  storms  in  May. 
We  fenced  in  Sherman's  clearance  as  we  have  the  use  of  it  for  pas- 
ture on  condition  that  we  pay  the  taxes  and  mend  the  roads. 
Father  has  bought  a  sewing  machine  for  ;^20,  second  hand;  he 
thinks  to  do  all  his  own  sewing  on  it;  a  truly  disgraceful  occu- 
pation for  a  man  who  passed  in  one  of  the  best  colleges  in  England 
as  a  civil  engineer.  Read  two  books  entitled  "Ferguson's  trip 
across  Africa  in  a  balloon,"  also  "The  Talisman"  by  Dr.  W.  Scott. 
The  Turko  Russian  war  still  progresses;  the  Turks  have  still  the 
best  of  it;  France  and  Germany  look  threateningly  at  each  other 
and  Austria  also  threatens  Russia.  I  spent  an  evening  at  Car- 
micheal's;  Stephen  C.  has  been  married  since  he  went  to  Montreal 
and  brought  his  wife  out  with  him;  she  is  very  plain  and  what  is 
still  worse  vulgar,  but  is  good  enough  for  him;  uncle  and 
Clifford  came  from  Montreal  and  admired  the  work  on  our  house 
and  barn.  Went  on  a  fishing  excursion  to  White  liver  at  the 
end  of  the  range;  bought  33  lbs  of  harrow  pins  at  8  cents  a  pound 
at  the  blacksmiths;  the  pins  are  steel  pointed  and  will  not  wear 
out  so  easily;  gave  the  job  of  finishing  the  house  and  barn  to  a 
man  for  ;^8o,  the  amount  still  due  Blake,  the  house  to  be  finished 
on  the  7th  and  the  barn  on  the  30th  of  June.  I 
wanted  to  sell  out  to  Tom  for  whatever  he  thought  my 
half  was  worth,  but  he  would  not  buy;  told  him  that 
I  would  try  and  enter  some  military  college,  A  great 
many  people  of  this  range  have  had  the  smallpox  of  which  four 
have  died.  On  Sunday  went  to  the  White  river  with  the  G. 
boys  and  divided  ourselves  into  two  crews  and  ran  a  race  down 
the  river;  afterward  rowed  up  nearly  to  Richford,  5  miles  distant, 
where  we  lunched  on  a  picturesque  island.  Since  our  dear  mothers 
death  family  prayers  have  been   abandoned;  I   think,   however, 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  31 

that  praying  now-a-days  is  overdone,  in  fact  that  it  is  altogether 
unnecessary;  how  foolish  does  it  appear  for  millions  of  different 
people,  and  even  people  of  one  nation  or  pirish,  praying  for 
directly  contrary  results;  does  it  not  appear  far  wiser  to  perform 
our  duty  in  this  world  according  to  the  wisdom  a  Creator  has 
given  us  and  leave  the  result  in  his  hands.  7th  June,  sowed  the 
last  of  our  oats;  it  is  doubtful  if  it  will  ripen  for  the  land  is  so 
rich  that  it  will  keep  growing  longer  than  oats  sown  in  poorer 
land,  besides  it  is  a  week  pa^-t  the  right  time  lor  sowing  it,  how- 
ever it  will  make  good  green  fodder.  Tom  sheared  father's 
sheep;  this  is  the  right  time  as  the  weather  is  beginning  to  be 
very  warm  and  the  sheep  rub  it  off;  if,  however,  they  are  shorn 
too  early  they  catch  cold  from  the  early  spring  rains.  Shingled 
our  house.  Tom  offered  to  sell  out  to  me,  but  I  preferred  not 
to  buy.  Our  oxen  are  what  is  called  breachy,  no  fence  will  keep 
them  in,  a  low  f^nce  they  jump  and  a  high  one  they  he  down 
against  it  and  upset  it;  put  an  apparatus  on  their  heads  covered 
with  sharp  points  to  prevent  them.  I  went  to  the  back  end  of 
our  400  acres  and  considered  it  was  all  magnificent  land,  but  a 
year  after  was  surprised  at  the  change  after  the  fire  had  ran  over 
it  and  burnt  off  all  the  loose  moss  and  light  vegetable  earth  on 
the  surface,  leaving  exposed  all  the  roots  and  stones  underneath; 
however,  our  lot  contains  some  of  the  best  land  in  these  parts. 
Our  mare  is.very  wild  since  she  has  been  put  in  the  pasture,  and 
kicks  dangerously  at  one  when  one  tries  to  catch  her.  Had  a 
"bee"  on  our  lots  and  logged  about  ^  of  an  acre,  and  made  i8 
log  piles,  which  is  very  fair  as  men  never  work  as  hard  at  a  "bee" 
as  on  other  occasions.  Had  my  aunt  to  bake  some  bread  for  us; 
gave  her  60  lbs.  of  flour  and  got  back  30  lbs.  of  bread;  decided 
that  this  does  not  pay,  and  in  the  future  if  we  run  short  of 
baker's  bread  we  will  make  pancakes.  On  Sunday  did  not  go 
to  church  as  the  mare  was  lame;  read  a  book  called  "America 
before  Columbus;"  also  a  book:  called  "My  Wife  and  I." 
My  aunt  keeps  continually  praising  Florence  Meredith  to  me; 
by  so  doing  I  do  believe  she  intends  to  tease  me ;  played 
checkers  with  Frenchmen  in  the  afternoon.  19th  June,  received 
a  letter  from  uncle  Richard:  "My  dear  boys,  I  have  just  received 
yours  and  will  see  that  the  door  is  sent  at  once.    We  are  all  well 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

and  are  going  to  the  seaside  at  Gaspe  on  the  2nd  of  July.  How 
is  the  mare,  has  she  kicked  since  she  ran  away  with  Arthur? 
Richard  has  read  your  letters  and  says  that  the  door  can  be  got 
cheaper  in  Aston.  When  you  are  settled  in  your  new  house 
send  me  a  list  of  the  things  you  need,  for  I  hnve  no  doubt  th:\t 
there  are  many  things  in  our  house  which  we  do  not  use  that 
would  add  to  your  comfort.  Your  aunt  and  cousins  unite  in 
love  to  you  both  and  to  you  father.  Believe  me  to  remain,  dear 
boys,  your  affectionate  uncle,  Richard."  We  truly  ought  to  be 
thankful  for  having  such  a  kind  uncle.  Took  several  horses  to 
pasture  at  $2  a  month  as  our  pasture  has  more  grass  than  our 
animals  can  consume.  The  oats  sown  on  the  rich,  black  soil  by 
the  stream,  looks  better  than  what  was  sown  on  higher  ground. 
Wrote  to  uncle  Richard.  "Dear  Uncle:  We  received  your  let- 
ter with  the  ;^io  enclosed;  we  can  buy  a  front  door  for  $3.  We 
have  seeded  all  our  new  land  with  hay  seed  and  it  has  taken 
well.  We  will  not  be  able  to  move  to  our  lots  for  several  days 
yet,  but  on  doing  so  will  let  you  know;  it  we  cannot  get  a  stove 
from  tather  we  will  purchase  one  in  Montreal  as  they  are  cheap- 
er there  than  here.  We  have  had  tarred  paper  put  between  the 
boarding  of  the  stable  which  will  make  it  very  warm.  We 
both  thank  you  tor  thinking  so  much  about  our  comfort,  also 
for  the  postage  stamps,  Tom  unites  with  me  in  love  to  all. 
Your  affectionate  nephew,  Arthur."  We  bought  1800  feet  of 
pine  lumber  for  cornice  and  casings  around  the  doors  and  win- 
dows at  $18  a  1000  feet.  Spent  the  evening  at  Meredith's  and 
was  introduced  to  three  young  gentlemen  from  an  adjoining 
village,  named  Harrison,  who  were  on  a  visit  there.  Earthed  up 
our  potatoes.  Out  of  respect  for  the  reader's  feelings  I  cannot 
give  verbatim  the  disgusting  conversation  and  jokes  we  hear 
daily  and  I  regret  to  say  that  conversation  that  used  to  fill  us 
with  disgust  is  now  listened  to  with  the  utmost  indifference. 
Tom  and  I  had  a  dispute  about  the  mare;  I  refused  to  pay  for 
her  keep;  sowed  our  buckwheat  on  the  29th  ot  June.  Herbert 
C.  sat  in  Willoughby's  drawingroom  and  read  a  book,  never 
speaking  a  word  to  Miss  Mabel  W.  who  was  there ;  told  him 
that  such  ungentlemanly  behavior  would  make  the  ladies  con- 
sider bim  a  boor.     Went  to  the  church  with  Mabel ;  she  teaches 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  33 

Sunday  school;  she  is  not  beautiful,  but  is  very  accomplished 
and  has  graceful  manners  and  is  a  very  kind-hearted,  pious 
young  lady,  is  able  to  converse  in  4  languages,  and  is  a  skillful 
pianist.  While  in  Aston  buying  locks  and  keys  for  our  house, 
1  noticed  flags  flying  from  the  station,  the  union  jack,  the  stars 
and  stripes,  and  another  flag  that  is  used  in  all  Catholic  proces- 
sions, and  the  band  playing  as  the  incoming  train  arrived.  Sir  J. 
Macdonel  was  on  the  train  on  his  way  to  a  conservative  picnic. 
Mr.  Mignault  read  and  address  from  the  French  Conservatives 
and  Mr.  Littleton  from  the  English;  he  also  received  a  bouquet 
from  the  ladies.  Sir  J.  in  his  speech  tickled  their  fancy  by  his 
saying  that  his  opponents  called  him  a  priest's  man.  1  often 
make  resol  es  to  devote  all  my  spare  moments  to  self  improve- 
ment and  not  be  influenced  by  the  bad  associations  around  me, 
and  perhaps  the  very  next  evening  am  enticed  by  an  acquaint- 
ance to  some  de.nce  at  an  adjoining  neighbors,  where  I  hear 
conversation  from  young  girls  of  "sweet  sixteen"  that  would,  I 
actually  believe,  make  the  ladies  of  Queen  Isabella  and  Charles 
the  Second's  court  blush.  While  chopping  a  turned  up  tree 
into  lengths  the  roots  and  stump  suddenly  sprang  back  into  its 
old  place  and  buried  cur  dog  Carlo  beneath  ;  it  fortunately  did 
not  crush  him  and  I  quickly  dug  him  out;  I  have  known  a  man 
to  have  been  thrown  as  much  as  15  feet  and  considerably  bruised 
by  such  an  occurence.  Paid  $"]  for  7  doz.  small  panes  of  glass, 
1 2th  July,  moved  into  our  house;  father  gave  us  some  of  the 
furniture  and  cooking  utensils  of  the  old  place  and  a  small  cook- 
ing  stove.  Finished  earthing  up  our  potatoes  for  the  second 
time.  Aunt  Ethel  and  Sarah  came  to  see  us.  I  said  to  Tom 
the  first  evening  in  our  new  house,  let  us  in  the  future  be  united 
in  all  our  plans  and  transactions,  and  show  to  the  world  that  we 
can  succeed;  after  which  I  burnt  his  note  to  me  for  ^^130,  but  he 
seemed  very  cool  and  indifferent.  Father  told  us  that  when  we 
had  our  house  finished  he  would  give  us  some  turkish  carpets 
and  lace  curtains  that  our  dear  mother  brought  from   England, 

I  which  is  very  kind  of  him.  Uncle  and  aunt  told  us  that  an 
Orangeman  had  been  murdered  by  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
Montreal,  whose  name  was  Hackett.  Two  foolish  Protestant 
ladies  wore  orange  flowers  and  this  color  has  the  same  effect  on 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  iN  AMERICA. 

some  Catholics  as  blood  has  to  a  mad  bull.  The  followers  of 
this  the  only  ''perfect  church,"  vilely  insulted  and  attacked  these 
helpless  ladies  and  Hackett,  like  a  true  gentleman,  remonstrated 
and  then  defended  them  and  in  doing  so  was  brutally  murdered. 
"My  dear  boys,  you  will  perceive  that  I  am  still  at  Gaspe  with 
your  aunt  and  cousins.  I  suppose  that  you  are  very  busy  with 
your  crops  and  that  you  have  moved  into  your  new  house  by 
this.  This  is  a  lonely  place  and  the  winters  are  about  one  month 
longer  than  with  you,  There  is  a  beautiful  bay  just  outside  our 
windows.  We  all  went  in  a  yacht  the  day  b;.'fore  yesterday;  it 
is  very  dangerous  and  I  am  afraid  that  none  of  them  will  try  it 
again.  Clifford,  Mabel,  Flora  and  myself  went  out  fishing  to 
the  St  Johns  river,  we  only  caught  a  dozen  trout  and  some  of 
them  were  very  small  It  is  cool  here  in  the  morninf^fs  and 
evenings  ana  very  pleasant  in  the  middle  of  the  day.  Rain  is 
badly  vvanted  here,  they  have  had  only  one  small  shower  tor 
weeks.  It  takes  4  or  5  days  to  get  a  letter  or  paper  from  Mon  - 
treal;  I  miss  the  papers  very  much.  Richard  is  taking  care  of 
my  patients;  should  you  require  anything  let  him  know.  1  ex- 
pect to  return  on  the  ^th  of  August.  With  love  from  all,  your 
affectionate  uncle,  Richard."  Read  a  book  by  Capt.  Butler, 
entitled,  "The  Great  Lone  Country."  Commenced  cutting  our 
hay  on  the  i6th  of  July;  some  of  the  inhabitants  only  cut  theirs 
in  the  middle  or  last  of  August,  but  the  hay  by  then  has  lost  its 
nutritious  juices  and  is  little  better  than  dried  sticks.  I  dulled 
my  scythe  and  had  to  go  to  a  neighbors  to  sharpen  it  as  we 
have  not  yet  bought  a  grinding  stone.  When  I  returned,  Tom 
accused  me  of  wasting  time  and  a  dispute  was  the  result;  he  said 
he  would  not  be  under  any  obligation  to  me  and  gave  me  back 
a  note  for  the  amount  he  owed  me.  I  worked  till  dark  as  we 
wish  to  get  our  hay  saved  while  the  weather  is  fine.  It  surprises 
me  how  we  lived  at  this  time,  a  completely  vegetable  diet,  and  . 
in  the  best  of  health  with  much  hard  work.  It  certainly  re- 
quires endurance  to  mow  steadily  all  day  in  the  sun,  with  a 
thermometer  at  78  to  89  degrees  above  zero.  Tom  commenced 
digging  a  well.  Andre  has  commenced  to  use  his  new  potatoes.  • 
In  a  confab  Tom  and  I  had,  he  said  he  would  like  to  go  to  Man- 
itoba or  Texas.  Old  Burke  came  with  a  petition  to  have  his  son 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FKKNCH  IN  AMERICA.  35 

released  froQi  Kingston,  a  great  many  justices  of  the  peace  had 
signed  it,  and  some  priests;  we  put  our  names  to  it.  His  son 
half  killed  a  peddler  a  few  years  ago.  The  G's.  refused  to  pay 
for  the  pasturage  of  their  horse,  because  our  dog  killed  a  pig  of 
theirs  that  was  running  half  wild  in  the  woods.  Ran  the 
boundary  line  between  Delage's  farm  and  ours;  the  surveyor 
was  5  acres  out  in  the  distance  of  one  mile  when  he  reached  the 
corner  post  at  the  other  end  of  the  lot;  in  returning  the  line  was 
rectified  and  the  posts  changed.  Sent  by  a  passing  neighbor  for 
a  bag  of  salt,  a  little  put  on  the  hay  in  the  mow  prevents  it  from 
heatnif  or  becomin^j  mildewed,  and  makes  the  animals  eat  it 
with  a  better  relish;  3  persons  are  required  to  draw  in  hay:  one 
to  pack  it  on  the  load,  one  to  pi'ch  it  up  and  one  to  rake  after 
the  load.  Have  been  reading  history  of  late.  I  think  we  should 
get  a  home  boy;  he  would  be  useful  for  cooking  meals  and  keep- 
ing the  house  clean.  Had  to  pay  the  surveyor  at  the  rate  of  ^5 
per  day  and  $i  for  placing  a  boundary  stone, also  hotel  expenses 
$1;  thcT dearest  surveyor  we  ever  had;  the  other  one  we  had  only 
charged  us  $2}4  for  our  expense.  Allowed  Andre  to  put  his 
hay  in  our  barn  till  he  gets  one  built.  While  saving  father's  hay 
for  him,  our  oxen  trespassed  on  G's.  meadow,  for  which  we  had 
to  pay  $1.  Mr.  Carmicheal,  of  Montreal  is  on  a  visit  with  his 
relations;  he  is  a  very  vulgar  man  and  is  continually  talking  of 
having  dined  with  the  honorable  Mr.  so  and  so.  We  fenced  in 
a  piece  of  meadow  for  a  pasture  by  our  house  to  prevent  our 
oxen  from  trespassing;  were  offered  I  cent  a  foot,  lineal  measure, 
for  the  cut  of  our  tamerac  timber  on  our  lots,.which  we  did  .not 
accept.  We  cook  our  meals  outside  in  a  stone  fireplace  to  keep 
the  house  from  being  too  warm.  After  mass  on  Sunday  our 
French  neighbors  went  picking  blueberries.  We  have  commenced 
underbrushing  more  land;  also  are  drilling  and  blasting  the  rock 
in  our  well.  Some  Aston  ladies  came  on  a  raspberry  picking 
excursion  and  took  tea  with  us.  F'ather  says  he  has  only  $20 
! cash,  if  so  he  will  have  hard  work  to  weather  the  winter.  At 
[present  we  are  making  rails  for  a  fence  in  front  of  our  lots;  we 
jniake  150  a  day,  which  is  fair  considering  we  are  novices  in  rail 
making.  Cut  down  a  cedar  somewhat  over  90  feet  high,  the 
highest   I   have   seen  in  these  parts.     Had  a  dispute  with  Tom 


36  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

about  housework,  thought  he  left  too  much  of  it  for  me  to  do. 
Had  hard  work  swamping  the  rails,  sank  some  times  over  one 
foot  in  the  mud.  I  am  thinking  of  asking  my  uncle's  permission 
to  enter  somt!  military  college  when  I  go  to  Montreal  in  Novem- 
ber. A  heavy  thunder  storm  has  caused  the  tall,  rank  oats  by 
the  stream  to  be  thrown  down,  which  will  make  it  ditticult  to 
cut;  next  morning  the  whole  of  the  low  lands  were  flooded  as 
there  is  only  a  partial  outlet  for  the  stream.  Have  commenced 
to  use  new  potatoes  occasionally,  but  it  is  a  waste  to  use  them 
until  full  grown.  Tom  has  become  quiie  a  sportsman  and  shot 
many  pigeons  in  groves  of  cherry  trees.  "Dear  boys,  we  have 
all  got  home  at  last  from  Gaspe,  Richard  and  Charley  are  not 
at  home  and  I  thought  you  had  better  postpone  your  visit  till 
they  come  back.  I  hope  to  be  able  to  come  out  and  see  you 
very  soon.  As  soon  as  you  get  this  send  me  word  what  money 
you  want,  also  a  list  of  the  things  you  may  require  ;  I  am  glad 
you  have  moved  to  your  new  house  for  several  reasons;  you  will 
save  time  and  fatigue  and  be  able  to  keep  a  lookout  o*n  your 
land.  I  think  it  will  be  necessary  to  get  a  cow;  the  small  Cana- 
dian cows  are  good  milkers."  Extract  from  reply:  "We  owe 
Bedard  $27  for  blacksmith  bill  and  Mousseau  $29  for  groceries. 
We  will  require  ;^6o  this  quarter.  In  the  future  we  will  try  and 
buy  everything  on  the  cash  system  as  the  storekeepers  have 
higher  prices  for  credit,"  To-morrow  we  will  finish  fencing  the 
new  pasture  we  have  made;  after  this  is  finished  we  will  plaster 
the  crevices  between  the  logs  of  the  house  and  apply  tar  to  the 
roofs  of  the  housq  and  barn  to  preserve  the  shingles.  Carlo  dis- 
covered an  otter  under  some  roots  by  the  stream,  but  we  could 
not  get  at  it;  their  skins  are  worth  $10.  Gave  the  job  of  i^ 
acres  of  land  to  Napoleon  to  log  and  burn  for  $8.  Received 
a  letter  from  uncle  Richard,  sending  us  ;$6o  and  advising  us  to 
keep  poultry.  Tom  and  I  have  decided  to  clear  25  acres  of  land 
this  year;  we  will  do  all  the  underbrushing  and  cut  all  the  tim- 
ber on  the  ground  this  fall,  and  in  the  winter  cut  the  standing 
timber.  This  is  a  good  time  to  get  improvements  done  as  labor 
is  cheap.  Sold  Meredith  fifty  cords  of  stovewood  for  ^1.25  a 
cord,  also  twenty  cord  of  wood  to  Mrs.  Guernsy  at  $2  a  cord. 
Bought  ten  lengths  of  stovepipe  for  64  cents.     Canadian  tobbacco 


HISTORY  OK  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  37 

in  rolls  costs  20  cents  a  lb.  As  we  will  not  have  as  good  a  crop 
of  potatoes  as  we  expected  (on  acconnt  of  the  ravages  uf  the  Col- 
orodo  beetle)  we  bought  some  potatoes  cheap  at  25  cents  a 
bushel.  Clifford  came  from  ^^v)ntreal.  I  slept  on  the  hay  in  the 
barn  but  fuund  it  rather  chilly;  cut  with  a  brush  scythe  wild 
raspberry  buslics  that  was  growing  upon  seme  of  the  cleared  land. 
Moses  La.  Kivere,  brother  to  Andrie'  is  coming  to  live  next  to 
him,  he  has  often  arguments  with  me  on  purgatory  and  confession 
and  advises  me  to  become  a  Catholic  and  marry  a  I'rench  girl. 
I  ridiculed  the  idea  of  his  paying  certain  sums  of  money  to  his 
priest  to  get  his  mother-in-law's  soul  out  of  purgatory,  and  tell 
him  that  it  is  a  religious  swindle  and  means  of  making  money. 
Louis  BroJjur's  mother-in-law  nearly  drowned  in  a  stream;  she  at- 
tempted to  cioss  while  driving  cows  through  the  woods,  she  sank 
in  the  mud  so  much  thitshe  could  not  extricate  herself  but 
fortunately  help  arrived  in  time.  Wrote  to  uncle  Jerrold  giving 
him  a  description  of  the  improvements  on  the  lots.  Bought  a 
cow  from  Napoleon  for  $2$,  a  very  fine  animal,  part  Durham 
and  a  good  milker.  We  are  fittening  two  pigs,  for  pork  Went 
on  three  days  fishing  and  boating  excursion  with  the  G.  boys 
and  Clifford  to  the  Black  river,  also  shot  some  partridges.  Cliff- 
ord says  we  ought  not  to  allow  Frenchmen  working  in  this 
vicinity  to  stop  at  our  house,  but  it  is  hard  to  refuse  them,  it 
would  look  disobliging.  Bread  has  fallen  to  15  cents  for  a  6  lb 
loaf  Tom  and  I  had  another  dispute  about  house  work.  Tom 
went  to  Aston  council  but  the  process  verbal  did  not  pass,  there 
was  too  much  opposition;  many  of  the  councillors  land  that  sends 
water  into  the  stream  voted  against  it  to  avoid  expense.  There 
iwas  a  review  of  militia  at  Richford,  one  of  the  raw  recruits  shot 
Ihis  captain  in  the  hand.  Jonathan  G.  tells  me  that  Magloire 
[Vincent  had  a  disgraceful  wedding  through  too  much  whiskey; 
the  bridegrooms  brother  had  his  clothing  torn  off  hi.n  and  one 
)f  the  bridesmaids  had  her  nose  broken;  amongst  the  French 
lere  there  is  generally  only  one  bridesmaid  and  a  best  man,  who 
ire  called  "Garcon  de  honeur"  and  "Fille  de  honeur."  "Salford 
mgland  August  20th.  My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  I  received 
)oth  your  most  '^velcome  letters;  I  am  truly  glad  to  hear  that 
'ou  are  getting  along  with  your  farm;  you  ought  to  be  truly  hap- 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

py  boys,  out  in  the  fresh  country  air,  healthy  and  strong,  every 
foot  of  your  property  your  own  forever.  I  have  been  trying 
to  buy  some  land  ever  so  wild;  I  should  not  care  but  cannot  get 
it.  I  once  owned  70  acres  but  was  tempted  by  an  offer  of  just 
double  what  I  gave  for  it  and  have  regretted  it  ever  since.  Al- 
though you  are  minors  no  one  can  touch  your  land  without  the 
deliberate  consent  of  two  old  experienced  heads;  every  foot  you 
improve  of  that  land  is  a  safe  investment.  It  almost  makes  my 
head  ache  to  see  Rupert  studying  so  much  over  his  books  the 
competition  is  so  great  now-a-days  that  brain  work  is  carried  to 
an  excess.  We  leave  Salford  shortly,  remaining  at  Orford 
House  a  few  weeks  and  then  go  on  to  Brighton  where  we  will 
remain  a  few  weeks  for  the  sea  air,  I  went  round  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire's  garden  and  grounds;  I  saw  two  immense  rocks 
called  rocking  rocks  so  evenly  balanced  that  thej  could  be  moved 
with  a  touch  of  the  finger;  the  conservatories  were  beautiful,  con- 
taining all  sorts  of  Southern  plants  and  rare  trees  growing  in  a 
glass  building  larger  than  a  church  and  heated  to  rather  an 
unpleasant  degree.  The  Russians  and  Turks  are  busy  killing, 
burning  and  cutting  each  others  throats;  Heaven  change  them 
and  God  grant  we  may  never  suffer  from  the  horrors  of  war. 
Aunt  Mary  joins  in  love.  Your  affectionate  liUcle,  Jerrold  Gold- 
smith." Uncle  Richard  came  to  see  us  and  b  -ought  us  two  large 
jars  of  preserves  from  my  aunt.  Uncle  said  wc  would  have  a  fine 
estate  some  day.  lOth  September,  this  week  we  expect  to  finish 
sowing  all  our  oats,  Received  a  note  from  uucle  Richard  say- 
ing he  had  insured  our  buildings  for  $300  and  our  crops  at  ;^200 
for  three  years;  cost  of  insurance  $5.15.  In  a  letter  from  uncle 
Jerrold  he  says  Rupert  thinks  of  entering  the  Queen's  horse 
guards.  Gave  Lapointe  of  Aston  a  job  often  acres  to  under- 
brush at  $1.60  an  acre.  Went  to  Doherty  to  give  him  a  notice 
to  pay  the  balance  of  his  account,  had  a  supper  there;  their  usual 
fare  potatoes,  pork,  bread,  butter,  honey  and  strong  tea.  Re- 
solved to  devote  $1  out  of  every  ;^ioo  I  am  worth  to  some  worthy 
charities.  Wrote  to  uncle  Richard;  "Dear  uncle,  Tom  unites 
with  me  in  thanking  you  for  your  regard  for  our  interests  in 
having  our  buildings  insured.  Wc  have  finished  plastering  the 
chinks  between  the  logs  of  our  house;  Doherty  will  pay  the  bal- 


PISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  39 

ance  next  week;  we  have  given  twenty  acres  to  Frenchmen  to 
have  underbrushed  at  ^i.6o  an  acre  in  low  land,  and  $2  in  high 
lands;  where  there  is  more  fallen  timber  to  cut  it  is  a  great  bar- 
gain, the  usual  price  is  $y,  the  twenty  acres  will  extend  from  the 
'  Beaver  meadows  on  35,  across  the  whole  front  of  34  to  Sherman's 
line.  Could  you,  if  convenient,  lend  us  ^$40  and  we  will  pay  you 
out  of  thj  November  quarter.  We  will  cut  our  buckwheat  next 
week;"  unimportani;  itjms  conclude  it.  Bought  a  grinding  stone 
for  6S  cents.  Went  to  Meredith's,  Florence  and  Maud  are  at  a 
ladies  college  in  upper  Canada,  Jessie  at  a  deaf  and  dumb  insti- 
tution in  Montreal;  she  lost  the  power  of  speech  and  hearing  at 
an  early  age  after  a  severe  fever;  and  Timothy  the  second  eldest 
son  is  at  Lennox  college,  so  the  house  has  a  deserted  appearance 
with  only  the  mother  and  younger  children.  G.  boys  are  mak- 
ing great  improvements,  most  of  their  meadows  could  be  cut  with 
a  machine;  they  have  a  small  orchard  that  is  wonderfully  pro- 
ductive. Gave  a  Frenchman  a  job  of  sawing  80  cords  of  stove 
wood  with  our  sawing  machine  for  35  cents  a  cord,  we  to  furnish 
the  machine,  oil  and  files  and  a  man  to  work  it.  I  went  to  a 
"bee"  at  Houde's  farm  near  our  place;  the  family  are  going  to 
inove  here  this  fall;  there  were  twenty-three  men  whichwas  more 
than  was  needed.  The  Frenchman  has  given  up  the  job  of  saw- 
ing the  wood,  says  the  machine  does  not  saw  enough  to  pay  him. 
"My  dear  boys,  I  received  your  letter  yesterday  and  was  glad 
you  were  both  so  well,  in  fact  you  are  both  so  busy  that  you 
have  no  time  to  think  of  bodily  ailments  even  if  you  had  them. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  clearing  of  that  twenty  acres  will  be 
a  grand  improvement  when  it  is  finished.  I  shall  take  a  great 
pride  in  your  making  that  a  fine  farm  particularly  as  I  expect 
your  uncle  Jerrold  will  soon  come  over  to  see  you.  It  was  prin- 
cipally on  your  account  he  came  out  last  time.  In  the  letter  I 
enclose  ;^6o,  ;^40  from  myself  as  a  present  and  ^20  from  your 
uncle  Jerrold  to  pay  for  a  cow  which  you  absolutely  need  he 
says,  not  having  heard  you  bought  one.  After  a  year  or  two 
you  will  be  able  to  sell  something  off  your  farm  when  you  can 
keep  a  boy  and  have  more  cattle;  that  farm  of  yours  when  cleared 
will  make  a  fine  stock  farm.  I  hope  you  will  not  be  obliged  to 
draw  cordwood  this  winter  any  more  at  $2  a  cord,  there  is  noth- 


40  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

ing  made  by  it  and  you  really  are  above  such  labor.  Clifford  is 
going  to  school  again  but  I  think  he  is  getting  tired  of  it.  After 
next  year  I  think  he  will  like  to  be  a  farmer,  but  I  fear  he  has 
been  too  much  spoiled  by  town  luxuries.  I  send  you  a  small 
book  af  prayers  for  morning  and  evening  use,  as  I  know  that  it 
will  give  your  uncle  Jerrold  pleasure  to  know  that  you  apply  to 
the  throne  of  our  Heavenly  Father  for  guidance  every  day,  as 
we  require  to  support  the  body  with  daily  food  so  we  must  en- 
liven our  faith  and  nourish  our  souls  by  constant  communion 
with  God.  I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  kind  invitation  and 
would  like  very  much  to  go  out  and  see  you  tor  a  few  days; 
when  you  are  opening  up  the  stream  try  and  give  me  a  couple 
of  days  notice.  Of  all  things  plant  an  orchard;  see  what  a  great 
quantity  of  fruit  your  uncle  has  received  from  his  orchard  which 
I  planted  myself  for  him  lo  years  ago;  excuse  my  writing  across 
my  letter,  with  much  love  in  which  your  aunt  unites,  I  remain 
your  loving  uncle,  R.  J.  Goldsmith."  "Dear  uncle  Richard  I 
received  your  letter  yester^h^^  evening  with  your  generous  gift 
of  ;^40  and  thank  you  for  it,  I  trust  by  our  future  conduct  and 
management  of  these  lots  we  will  at  least  show  you  that  we  are 
trying  to  be  worthy  of  two  such  generous  and  good  uncles,  who 
have  always  taken  such  a  deep  interest  m  our  spiritual  as  well  as 
our  temporal  welfare;  how  very  good  of  uncle  Jerrold  to  send  us 
$20  to  buy  a  cow  with.  We  have  finished  cutting  our  buckwheat; 
we  will  not  draw  any  more  wood  to  Aston  but  let  the  purchas- 
ers get  teamsters  to  draw  it.  This  winter  however  we  will  have 
plenty  to  do  in  chopping  the  standing  timber  and  making  rails. 
We  will  follow  your  advice  and  make  preparations  for  the  plant- 
ing of  an  orchard;  in  a  short  time  we  will  begin  to  cut  wood 
with  the  sawing  machine;  with  love  to  my  aunt  and  cousins, 
your  affectionate  nephew,  A.  N.  Howard."  Father's  buckwheat 
has  been  destroyed  by  G's  cattle;  Jonathan  tried  to  take  their 
cattle  from  father's  stable  by  force  and  struck  father  several  times, 
in  one  spot  making  his  face  black  and  blue;  father  threatens  to 
sue  for  damages  for  assault  and  battery,  if  the  damage  is  not  paid 
and  a  written  apology  given.  W.  Carmichael  ot  Montreal  acts 
hke  a  rough,  he  fired  off  his  revolver  in  Aston  several  times. 
Wrote  to  uncle  Jerrold  a  long   letter.     Received   a   letter  from 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FREISfCH  IN  AMERICA,  4  I 

uncke  Richard  saying  that  Flora  was  very  busy  preparing  for  her 
apj)roachiiig  wedding;  she  is  going  to  be  married  to  a  Mr  Butler, 
a  superintendent  ot  a  railw.iy.  On  the  13th  Oct.  received  another 
letter  saying  that  Flora  had  returned  from  her  wedding  tour  and 
thjLt  lie  expected  us  in  shortly,  also  that  he  was  sorry  to  hear  of 
tliJ  fresh  feud  between  father  and  G's.  In  November  received  a 
lettT  from  uncle  Jerrold  congratulating  us  on  our  improvements; 
su  )posed  that  Sarah  had  returned  to  her  husband  for  they  should 
think  more  of  each  other  than  all  the  world,  that  he  was  a  sober 
and  industrious  man,  who  will  eventually  make  her  happy,  also 
asked  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  Mrs.  McNeill,  who  so  kindly 
attend-,'d  on  our  dear  mother  in  her  last  sickness;  that  we  should 
visit  our  dear  mother's  grave  often  and  keep  it  looking  beautiful 
and  attend  church  regularly.  The  council  decided  that  the 
bridge  over  our  stream  12  ft,  wide  was  not  a  bridge  but  a  culvert, 
and  that  we  and  the  land  proprietor  on  the  opposite  side  should 
keep  it  in  repair.  In  November  Jonathan  G.  went  to  a  medical 
co'L'ge  at  Chicago;  he  has  earned  some  money  teaching  school 
anJ  his  brvjther  out  west  will  also  help  him;  he  is  a  clever  fellow 
having  studied  enough  by  himself  with  the  aid  of  Rev.  L.  C,  Wil- 
loughby  to  matriculate.  Mrs.  Meredith  invited  us  to  spend 
Christmas  with  them.  Mrs.  M.  told  me  they  were  paying  ^ooo 
a  year  for  the  schooling  of  Florence  in  Montreal  and  that  the 
education  of  five  of  their  eldest  children  cost  ;^i8oo  alone,  also 
showed  me  a  large  and  interesting  collection  ot  curiosities  col- 
lected by  her  husband,  such  as  coins,  minerals,  &c.  Uncle  Rich- 
^ard  wrote  saying  that  he  passed  through  Aston  and  intended  to 
all  and  see  us  but  that  uncle  H.  was  on  the  platform  and  never 
nvited  him  out,  and  wanted  to  know  if  we  had  heard  of  anything 
hat  displeased  uncle  H.  Replied,  "Dear  uncle,  yours  received 
with  uncle  Jerrold's  enclosed;  we  did  not  hear  anything  as  re- 
-gards  uncle  H;  he  has  not  been  to  see  us  since  he  was  with  you 
last  August.  We  have  logged  6  of  the  20  acres  also  plowed 
"Some  of  Richard's  old  clearance  to  have  ready  for  wheat  next 
Spring.  At  present  we  are  chopping  down  and  cutting  up  the 
Jarjije  trees  on  the  20  acres;  when  the  days  are  too   wet  to  work 

futside  we  thrash  oats  in  the  barn.     Tom  has  changed  a  consid- 
rable  amount  of  time  with  the   neighbors  by  sawing  wood  for 
■ 


4^  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

tliem  with  the  sawing  machine,  they  are  to  pay  us  back  by  help 
ing  us  to  log  We  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  and 
Clifford  at  Christm- s,  with  love  to  all,  your  affectionate  nephew, 
Arthur."  Mr.  Meredith  sent  father  a  book  of  travel;  he  has 
written  a  Very  interesting  book  entitled  "To  the  Andes  and  back." 
Ihave  commenced  a  history  of  the  World  and  intend  to  devote 
the  spare  moments  of  my  life  to  it,  and  I  never  lose  an  oppor- 
tunity to  collect  all  the  most  important  events,  statistics,  man- 
ners, habits  and  customs  of  all  nations  from  all  sources  imaginable; 
histories,  newspapers,  magazines,  etc.,  and  classify  them,  leaving 
out  all  the  trivial  and  unimportant  details.  On  the  25th  of  Oct, 
the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  the  first  we  have  had  this 
season.  Read  for  the  second  time  the  history  of  Rome.  Had 
several  disputes  with  father  this  fall,  he  thinks  we  should  vvork 
on  his  farm  as  well  as  our  own,  we  told  him  we  could  not  and 
that  he  must  depend  upon  his  own  resources  to  make  his  system 
of  farming  a  success,  but  that  we  should  never  see  him  in  want 
of  anything;  told  him  it  was  mean  of  him  to  try  and  prejudice 
our  uncles  against  us,  or  to  tell  our  friends  that  we  were  bad 
boys  because  we  went  fishing  or  boating  on  a  Sunday  or  passed 
our  evenings  at  the  firesides  of  our  French  neighbors.  We  have 
3  French  neighbors  now,  Andre  and  Moses  Larivere  and  the 
Houde  faniily,  which  consists  of  father,  mother,  4  daughters  a.id 
2  sons.  Went  to  Houde's  to  spend  the  evening,  Andre  and  his 
wife  were  there  playing  cards;  Houde  made  me  take  supper  with 
them  after  which  he  asked  me  to  join  them  at  cards;  told  him  I 
could  not  play,  said  his  daughter  Marie  would  show  me  how,  at 
which  a  lather  ordinary  plain  featured  brunette  came  and  sat  by  me 
she  appeared  however  to  be  the  most  intelligent  of  the  daughters 
and  can  read  and  write,  of  wliich  accomplishment  her  sis- 
ters are  deficient.  The  old  lady  and  Andre  quizzed  me  and 
said  they  supposed  I  should  soon  get  married  now  that  we  had 
a  house  built;  I  said  I  did  not  think  I  was  possessed  of  suf- 
ficient means,  at  which  Andre  laughed  and  said  look  at  me. 
I  had  only  a  week's  provisions  ahead;  said  I  thought  he  had 
more  pluck  than  ever  ^  would  have;  under  Marie's  direc- 
tion I  played  with  varying  success;  sometimes  when  the 
cards  went  wrong  she  would  utter  rather  strong    language,  such 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEKICA.  43 

as  "Mon  Dieu,"  "Seigneur,"  etc.  Andre  lives  the  best  of  any 
French  people  around  here;  he  nearly  always  has  meat,  soup, 
potatoes,  butter,  bread,  tea,  and  very  often  apple  and  mince  pies. 
14th  December;  the  water  in  the  basin  on  the  wash-stand  was 
frozen  solid  this  inorning ;  the  ddy  is  windy  and  piercingly  cold; 
there  are  good  sleigh  roads.  Wrote  to  uncle  Jerrold  :  "My 
dear  uncle,  I  received  your  letter,  and  thank  you  for  the  great 
ititoMCst  you  take  in  our  welfare.  I  smcerely  trust  that  the  im- 
provements on  our  lots  will  reach  your  highest  expectations 
when  next  you  come  to  Canada,  which  1  trust  will  be  next 
summer.  Uncle  H.  and  family  are  all  well;  a  reconciliacion 
has  been  effected  between  Sarah  and  her  husband,  and  she  has 
returned  to  live  with  him.  Jonathan  is  studying  medicine  at 
Rush  medical  college,  Chicago.  In  winter  Tom  and  I  go  to 
cliurch,  we  have  to  talve  turn  about,  as  some  one  has  to  remain 
at  home  to  keep  the  fires  going  and  attend  to  the  animals.  We 
planted  and  replaced  this  fall  some  cedars  that  had  died  during 
th.' sum. ner  in  the  hedge  around  our  dear  mother's  tomb,  VVe 
sometimes  visit  Mrs.  McNeill;  the  kind  lady  who  attended  on 
our  dear  mother  during  her  illness.  I  trust  Rupert's  health  will 
not  be  injured  by  the  hard  study,  but  the  greater  the  difficulties 
the  greater  the  victory.  There  fell  about  8  inches  of  snow  a 
couple  of  days  ago,  but  it  has  nearly  all  thawed  away.  During 
the  last  few  years  there  seerns  to  be  less  snow  during  the  wintt^r. 
Mr.  Venner,  the  weather  prophet  says  that  during  the  next  half 
century  the  Canadian  winters  will  be  v^ery  mild;  also  that  there 
is  a  probability  of  the  rivers  remaining  open  for  navigation  this 
winter,  but  time  will  prove  his  correctness.  Everything  on  the 
farm  is  progressing  fivorably.  With  love  to  my  aunt  and 
Rupert.  Your  affectionate  nephew,  A.  N.  Howard."  Changed 
tune  with  our  oxen  with  our  neighbors,  one  day  with  the  oxen 
and  myself  being  considered  equivalent  to  three  days  worth  of  a 
man.  Invited  father  to  spend  Christmas  with  us,  but  he  spent  it 
at  Carmicheal's;  cousin  Sar^ih  from  Davenport,  with  Philip  and 
Walter  spent  the  day  with  us;  we  all  then  spent  the  evening  at 
Herberts.  London.  December  4ch.  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur: 
Your  joint  letter  has  just  been  h^Mided  in  by  the  postman,  with 
one  from  your  cousin  Mabel.     I   was  so  pleased    to  hear   from 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.      ' 

your  uncle  Richard  of  the  great  improvements  you  are  making 
on  your  farm;  in  a  few  years  more  you  will  begin  to  be  com- 
fortable. Mind  you  keep  out  of  debt  whatever  else  you  do; 
"the  borrower  becomes  servant  to  the  lender."  Let  nothing  ever 
tempt  you  to  run  into  debt,  ruin  is  sure  to  follow;  the  man  tliat 
owes  nothing  sleeps  sound,  out  of  debt  and  out  of  danger;  better 
to  be  a  free  man  on  a  poor  dinner  in  a  ragged  coat,  than  ride  in 
broadcloth  with  a  full  stomach  and  a  sore  heart;  moreover,  pay 
day  always  comes  when  there  is  no  money  to  pay.and  if  you  owe 
nothing  all  you  have  is  your  own,  and  he  who  has  debtors  has 
unwelcome  visitors;  and  if  you  wish  to  be  glad  to  meet  a  friend 
do  not  borrow  money  from  him.  I  cannot  make  out  how  much 
land  is  downright  cleared  out.  Your  aunt,  Rupert  and  myself 
would  be  delighted  to  be  in  the  woods  and  see  you  all.  Have 
you  planted  any  apple  trees  ?  As  soon  as  the  woods  are  cut 
down  in  Canada  the  climate  will  become  much  warmer.  I  felt 
strong  and  well  in  the  woods,  the  air  seemed  so  deli^jhtfully  pure 
and  fresh,  so  different  from  smoky,  foggy  London  air.  I  should 
like  to  get  a  farm  and  live  in  the  co'jntry,  your  aunt  Margaret 
could  attend  to  the  dairy,  and  I  could  see  after  the  men  and  plow 
and  reap  wheat  and  oats;  I  should  grow  potatoes  and  cabbage, 
keep  fowls  and  pigs  and  sell  them,  and  have  plenty  of  sheep  and 
cows;  I  should  have  all  my  own  mutton  and  beef,  with  butter, 
eggs  and  cream.  I  fear  I  am  getting  very  old,  but  I  am  always 
hoping  to  live  on  a  farm,  and  perhaps  it  may  come  to  that  at 
last;  although  like  a  doctor's  bread,  he  never  gets  it  till  he  has 
no  teeth  to  eat  it;  and  if  I  do  not  get  a  farm  soon  I  shall  go  to 
it  at  last  with  lean  sides,  creaking  joints  and  a  rheumatic  old 
fogy,  fit  for  nothing  else  but  to  sit  in  a  chimney  corner  and 
grumble  at  everything.  We  had  a  telegram  from  New  York 
warning  us  of  a  terrible  storm  that  would  visit  us  on  the  24th  of 
last  month,  which  it  did  with  a  vengeance,  many  ships  were  lost 
and  houses  and  trees  blown  do^'n;  our  servants  w?re  so  fright- 
ened that  they  sat  up  all  night.  The  price  of  wheat  and  bread 
has  risen  in  England.  We  are  all  well,  thank  God.  Your  aunt 
sends  her  love.  Give  my  love  to  uncle  Herbert  and  his  family 
and  to  all  friends,  and  belreve  me  your  loving  uncle,  Jerrold 
Goldsmith."     During  1878  I  kept  my  journal  very  irregular  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  45 

in  March  decided  to  discontinue  it,  7th  January,  '78.  When  I 
got  up  this  morning  the  thermometer  in  the  bedroom  was  4 
degrees  below  zero.  "My  dear  uncle  Jerrold:  We  read  your 
letter  and  thank  you  for  your  good  advice  and  will  try  and  fol- 
low it.  Ihe  woodland  has  so  many  operations  to  go  through 
before  it  becomes  cleared  land  that  I  am  not  surprised  that  our 
description  of  the  different  operations  pu/  .led  you;  as  regards 
how  much  land  we  have  cleared  since  we  came  on  the  lots:  we 
have  cleared  and  put  under  cultivation  13  acres  of  land  and  are 
at  present  engaged  in  clearing  20  more;  we  have  not  planted 
any  apple  trees,  but  will  do  so  in  the  spring;  a  good  orchard  on 
a  farm  greatly  increases  its  value.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to 
find  a  good  farm  as  the  change  would  no  doubt  be  beneficial. 
Cousin  Clifford  spent  New  Years  with  us.  The  weather  here 
now  is  very  changable,  this  morning  4  degrees  below  zero,  at 
noon  thawing,  and  to-night  snowing  and  blowing  in  a  most 
wintry  manner.  With  love  to  all.  Your  affectionate  nephew, 
Arthur."  Tom  has  bought  a  cutter,  or  light  sleigh,  for  which 
he  has  paid  $28.  The  Russians  have  captured  a  Turkish  Pasha 
and  30,000  men.  Read  a  book,  entitled,  "Jesuitism  in  Europe 
and  America,"  which  plainly  shows  their  t  afty  and  ambitious 
policy,  that  of  bringing  all  the  world  into  submission  to  the 
doctrines  of  Roman  Catholicism,  We  have  threshed  and  stored 
away  in  a  granary,  40  bushels  of  oats  for  seed.  Allowed 
Brodeurs  to  make  rails  on  halves  out  of  the  cedar  on  the  20 
acres  we  are  clearing.  Houde  has  bought  some  pine  trees  from 
us  for  square  timber;  some  pieces  that  had  dccay<^d  knots  he 
plugged  up  with  pegs  of  wood,  but  the  buyer  .scovered  the 
fraud  and  cut  him  terribly  in  measuring  the  sound  ones;  truly, 
honesty  is  the  best  policy.  29th  Feb.  Uncle  Richard  came  from 
Montreal;  our  house  vvas  in  a  terrible  state,  as  we  were  having 
tongued  and  groved  floors  put  down,  and  also  a  flight  of  stairs; 
he  brought  us  a  set  of  carpenter's  tools  from  himself,  and  some 
very  nice  furniture  and  household  nic  nacs,  which  our  cousin, 
Angelica  Fothergill  of  Salford,  England,  had  him  buy  for  us; 
also  my  aunt,  cousin  Mabel,  and  Mrs.  Hay  ton,  uncle  Richard's 
sister-in-law  sent  us  many  articles  and  trifles  that  .  'ill  greatly 
beautify  and  add  comfort  to    our  bachelor's  hall.     We  are  truly 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

'  *  ■' 

blessed  with  many  lovin^r  and  stauncli  friends;  uncle  returned  in 
the  morning.  I  often  long  for  that  time  when  we  shcdl  have 
sufficient  means  to  live  in  such  refining  and  elevating  society  in- 
stead of  being;  buried  and  continuously  in  the  slough  of  humanity 
in  which  we  now  exist.  Houde  only  paid  us  $1  a  piece  for  the 
pine  timber,  large  and  «?mall,  which  was  not  enough.  "Fredric- 
ton,  N.  B.  Dear  Arthur,  I  hope  you  will  excuse  my  not  writing 
before  but  I  did  not  wish  to  write  till  I  had  renewed  the 
subscription  to  the  "Youtli's  Companion"  I  send  you.  As  it  is 
too  late  to  wish  you  a  merry  Christmas  or  a  haDp)  New  Year, 
I  at  least  hope  you  have  enjoyed  those  holidc.ys.  I  am  still  at- 
tending the  universit}'  of  New  Brunswick,  which  is  located  here. 
My  youngest  brother  had  an  attack  of  dipthcria  and  after  he  got 
better  my  mother  and  youngest  sister  took  it.  The  weather 
here  as  everywhere  else  is  unusually  mild  although  we  have  had 
enough  snow  for  good  sleighing.  There  has  been  a  great  tern 
'  perance  revival  here  over  1000  people  formed  the  club  which 
they  have  established,  they  are  doing  a  great  deal  of  good  for 
Fredricton;  my  little  baby  brother  i.->  beginning  to  talk  and  walk, 
he  is  about  ten  months  old.  This  is  all  the  news;  1  hope  you 
will  WTite  soon;  ever  believe  me  your  sincere  friend,  Allen  I  Rob- 
ertson." Mr.  Willoughy  held  services  fortnightly  in  our  school 
house  also  had  a  singing  and  confirmation  class  among  some  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  three  English  families  on  the  range. 
In  a  letter  from  uncle  Richard  he  said  "your  uncle  Jerrold  takes 
an  interest  in  all  your  movements,  and  the  most  minute  details 
about  the  land  are  of  interest  to  him."  Also  read  a  letter  from 
aunt  Margaret:  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  my  last  week's  mail 
Angelica  sent  me  a  few  £  to  invest  in  household  articles  for  your 
comfort,  will  you  please  tell  me  what  articles  you  require  most 
and  I  will  send  them  to  you;  you  ought  to  get  a  carpenter  to  help 
you  to  finish  your  house  inside,  hope  you  will  attend  to  this  and 
have  it  nicely  finished  and  consider  the  importance  of  making 
yourselves  comfortable;  we  will  be  much  happier  here  when  we 
know  that  you  have  your  house  nicely  and  comfortably  furnished, 
after  that  your  farm  work,  clearing  land  &c.  Do  not  forget  to 
write  to  Angelica,  she  takes  a  great  interest  in  you,  both  for  your 
own  and  vour  dear  mother's  sake;  your  affectionate  aunt,  Mar- 


HISTORV  OF  TIIK  ri^EN'CII  IN  AMERICA.-  4/ 

garct  A.  Goldsmith."  "My  dear  aunt  I  read  your  letter  and  thank 
you  for  your  ^reat  kindness  in  thinking  so  much  about  us;  how 
very  good  of  Angelica  to  have  such  regard  for  our  comfort,  we' 
shall  certainly  write  to  her  occasionally.  You  are  all  so  very  good 
to  us  that  it  fills  us  with  the  most  earnest  desire  to  make  our  at- 
tempt at  fanning  a  success,  knowing  how  much  it  would  please 
you  all;  we  will  have  our  house  fini  hed  inside  as  you  suggest. 
Everything  is  progressing  favorably  on  the  farm.  With  love  to 
all  I  retnain,  ever  your  affectionate  nephew  A.  N.  Howard." 
Received  a  circular  from  a  conservative  in  Dudley:  the  conserva- 
tive party  is  broken  up  and  there  is  to  be  a  "general  election;" 
the  circular  strongly  advi^icd  the  people  to  sustain  the  conservative 
party  by  voting  for  it  and  as  good  Catholics  not  to  vote  for  the 
Liberals  or  "Rogues,"  who  as  a  party  are  denounced  by  their' 
priests.  Received  a  letter  fro, n  Angelica;  "My  dear  Tom  and  Ar- 
thur, I  was  so  pleased  to  receive  your  letters  by  last  week's  mail 
and  to  hear  of  your  success,  I  heard  from  Mamma,  of  Clifford's 
visit  to  you  and  how  much  he  enjoyed  it;  hope  he  writes  to  you^ 
regularly  but  I  fear  lis  is  rather  lazy  about  it,  as  he  scarcely  ever 
writes  to  me.  Timothy  was  surprised  at  the  large  clearance  you 
are  making;  he  would  like  to  see  Canadian  woods  very  much 
for  he  has  only  passed  by  them  in  the  trains.  Will  you  make  ■ 
any  sugar  this  year?  We  have  been  greatly  interested  in  read- 
ing Mr.  Meredith's  book  "to  the  Andes,and  back,"  do  you  often 
see  him  or  any  of  the  Aston  people.  You  must  enjoy  the  quiet 
rest  in  the  evenings,  and  I  hope  you  still  delight  in  the  words  of 
God.  Our  baby  is  more  than  two  years  old  and  is  so  lively  and 
talkative.  I  have  no  news  about  your  uncle  Jerrold,  with  love 
from  Timothy  and  myself,  your  affectionate  cousin.  Arthur  E. 
Fothergill."  I  have  so  much  work  and  so  little  time  to  spare 
that  I  have  decided  to  discontinue  my  journal  gth  December, 
'78,  I  have  changed  my  mind  and  recommenced  my  journal;  it  is 
ight  months  and  ten  days  since  I  left  off  writing  in  it;  I  shall 
ive  the  chief  events  that  occurred  during  that  period.  Mrs. 
Doherty  died;  we  went  to  the  wake  and  funeral;  the  corpse  was 
n  a  coffin  in  the  parlor,  there  were  about  seventy-five  people 
there,  several  prayers  were  said  for  the  repose  of  her  soul,  I  of 
:ourse  kneeled  with  the  rest  full  of  silent  disgust  at  such  non- 


48  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

sense;  forsooth  are  the  prayers  of  a  few  insignificant  mortals 
cipablc  of  changinf^  the  just  and  unalterable  decrees  of  a  mighty 
just  and  merciful  God.  All  of  the  people  except  the  members  of 
the  family  feasted,  conversed,  joked  and  drank  in  such  a  manner, 
that  in  outbursts  of  their  merriment  I  almost  believed  I  was  at  a 
wedding;  it  seemed  to  me  that  these  people  were  '"Job's  com- 
foitersand  that  they  came  to  have  a  good  time  generally  instead 
of  out  of  true  sympathy  with  the  here  ived  family.  1  here  were 
3  meals  during  the  night.  It  was  truly  a  strange  sight  to  me; 
in  the  parlor  the  bereaved  family  sat  in  silent  grief  shedding 
tears  occasionally,  and  around  them  sat  old  married  women 
talking  in  subdued  voices  about  the  latest  news  and  gossip.  In 
other  rooms,  middle  aged  men  and  women,  with  young  men  anH 
women  kept  up  a  continual  chatter  of  conversation,  some  in 
subdued  voices,  whispering  love  seritences  into  the  ears  of  their 
sweethearts.  The  uproarious  outbursts  of  laughter,  together 
with  the  coarse  jokes  that  were  uttered,  made  me  shudder  and 
think  how  much  of  mankind  were  yet  really  in  a  state  of  barbar- 
ism, "even  though  God  had  revealed  to  them  alone  the  only  true 
religion."  In  a  moment  these  people  cease  from  their  coarse 
conversation  and  lewd  jest  and  drop  on  their  knees  to  utter 
prayers  to  God.  What  blasphemy !  surely  such  prayers  as 
these  must  be  an  abomination  in  his  sight.  After  breakfast  and 
prayers  the  funeral  starteil  for  Aston;  at  the  edge  of  the  village 
they  were  met  by  about  50  people  on  foot  who  joined  the  pro- 
cession; when  about  two  acres  from  the  church  the  priest  came 
out  and  met  the  funeral  with  several  singing  boys,  dressed  in 
white,  singing  Latin,  for  which  especial  honor  this  fraudulent 
priesthood  charged  the  snug  little  sum  of  $c,o.  Now  for  a 
secular  undertaker  to  take  people's  money  for  such  silly  pomp 
and  show  is  bad  enough,  but  when  the  chosen  priesthood  of  the 
meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  stoop  to  such  low  means  of  making 
money,  they  truly  deserve  the  contempt  of  all  intelligent  men. 
The  coffin  was  now  placed  close  to  the  altar  and  several  prayers 
chanted  over  it  in  Latin,  the  priest  keeping  up  such  a  continual 
bowing  and  scraping  that  I  almost  thought  he  was  a  French 
dancing  master;  he  also  smoked  the  coffin  with  burnt  rosin  and 
a  censor  which  cai^sed  a  horrible  stench.    I  cannot  see  how  they 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  4^ 

think  that  such  incense  could  be  agreeable  to  the   nostrils  of 
their  Gotl.      The    pall    bearers  then   placed  the  coflin   in.   the 
grave,  which  was  in  the  church,  and  read  the  services   in  Latin 
over  her.  The  privilege  of  burying  her  inside  the  church  and  the 
services  cost  $200,   truly  this  is  a   money    making   religion.     In 
March  gave  the  job  of  lodging  and  burning  the  timber  off  the  20 
acres  ready  for  tlie  harrow  to   a  Ik'lgian   for  $5    an   acre,  we    to 
furnish  the  oxen;  he  is  well  educated  but  a  very  strange  charac- 
ter and  can  tell  the  wor^^t  anecdotes  I  ever  heard,  some  of  which 
however  are  very  witty  and  laughable.     When  in   Montreal  this 
winter  I  sa\v  all  the  sights  and  had  great   amusement  in   tobag- 
goning.     In  the  early  spring  we  set  Hre   to  the  timber  on   the  20 
acres;  it  was  truly  a  grand.,sight  to  see  the  flames   leaping  from 
one  brush  pile  to  another  and  there  was  a  strong  breeze  and  the 
whole  20  acres  were  in  a  short  time  in    flames,  which    rose   from 
10  to  20  feet  high  and  columns  of  smoke  rising  hundreds  of  feet 
high,  but  to  our  sorrow  the  sight  became  more  magnificent  when 
the  fire  rushed  into  the   adjoining   forest  and  all  the  woodlands 
(v,i  o  M"  lots  bcc  line  a  mass  of  flame  except  a  portion  that  \vas 
svvampy  on  35.     It  was  indescribably  grand  at   night  to  see  the 
flames  leaping  from  one  tree  top  to  another  and  rising  very  often 
many  feet  above  them;  by  morning  the  fire  had  ran  over  4  miles 
of  woodland  on  which  fortunately  there  was  not  much  timber  of 
any  great  value,    besides    our    neighbors    and   people   for    miles 
around  had  also  lit  fires  which  had  all  blended  into  one  greater 
one,  so  that  no  one  could  prove  whose  fire  had  done  the  damage. 
One  man  in  another  township  lost   12,000   cords   of  bark,  worth 
;$6o,ooo,  which  made  him  bankrupt.     The  Belgian  employee    as 
much  as  30  men  and  faithfully  completed  his  contract;  they  all 
slept  down  stairs  in  our  hour>e  which  might  have  been  taken  for 
a  "dead  house"  at  night  with  all  the  rows  of  bodies  lying  about 
in  every  direction;  he  only  paid  the  men  50  cents  a  day  without 
board.     We  unfortunately  after  sowing  12  acres  of  land  had  the 
seed  all  burnt,  the  fire  passing  a   second   time  over  the   charred 
surface  which  still  contained  many  particles  of  half  decayed  wood 
and  leaves;  we  had  to  sow  it  again  but  it  was  too  late  to   ripen, 
After  the  fire  passed  over  the  lots  Tom  and   I   decided  the  best 
thing  to  do  would  be  to  sell  the  cut  of  the  timber  as  the  different 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

species  of  wood  worms  would  destroy  it  even  quicker  than  nat- 
ural decay,  but  our  uncles  objected.  About  this  time  I  organ- 
ized with  others  an  association  entitled  "Aston  Young  Men's 
Association,"  with  the  following  constitution:  Resolved,  That 
this  association  repudiates  all  dogmas  promulgated  by  the  chris- 
tian churches  that  are  contrary  to  human  reason  and  scientific 
research,  and  utterly  disbelieve  that  God  has  specially  revealed 
his  will  to  any  particular  sect  or  body  of  men;  that  it  regards  all 
sects  and  churches  who  cbim  the  right  to  dictate  certain  doc- 
trines of  belief  to  its  followers  (on  pain  of  excommunication  and 
damnation  for  disbelief)  enemies  of  civilization  and  humanity, 
and  will  do  all  in  their  power  to  bring  into  contempt  and  destroy 
said  churches  and  sects,  and  use  its  utmost  endeavor  to  persuade 
all  men  to  disbelieve  the  fraudulent  revelations  of  all  the  bogus 
sects  and  churches  and  adopt  the  most  rational  view  of  that  ques- 
tion; that  God's  revelation  to  man  is  found  in  the  grand-  works 
of  his  creation  alone  and  in  the  wonderful  laws  by  which  he 
governs  this  earth  and  its  inhabitants;  that  it  accepts  many  of 
the  precepts  and  moral  laws  of  the  Bible  as  useful  and  beneficial 
for  man's  guidance  in  life,  but  only  consider  them  as  the  writings 
of  wise  men  and  philosophers,  which  superstitious  and  ignorant 
followers  afterwards  palmed  ofi"  on  the  semi-civilized  world  as 
divinely  revealed  truths;  that  it  will  persistently  advocate  a  meth- 
od of  education  superior  to  that  now  in  existence,  a  grand  system 
of  national  education  that  will  only  teach  practical  knowledge 
and  the  already  demonstrated  truths  of  science  and  his- 
tory as  well  as,  an  aocurate  knowledge  of  the  wonderful 
laws  by  which  all  nature  is  governed,  and  try  and  im- 
prove the  schools  of  the  world  so  that  they  will  give  the  rising 
generations  an  education  that  will  enable  mankind  to  attain  to 
the  highest  possible  state  of  physical  and  mental  perfection,  that 
it  will  try  and  demonstate  to  the  world  that  it  is  only  the  good 
moral  laws  and  precepts  of  the  christian  churches  that  have 
enabled  them  to  retain  their  influence  so  long  on  the  mind  of 
man,  and  that  these  same  precepts  and  moral  laws  are  not  re- 
vealed by  any  special  revelation,  but  merely  by  wise  and  good 
men  making  a  proper  use  of  the  intellectual  powers  a  great  Crea- 
tor gave  them,  and  will  try  and  convince  all  intelligent  men  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  51 

the  folly  of  attcniptin<;  to  solve  mysteries  that  are  too   great  and 
ou^of  the  range  of  man's  intellect,   and    the    great   folly   of  the 
christians  in  shedding  so  much  of  the  blood  of  their    fellow   men 
and  persecuting  each  other  for  some  absurd  difference   they  had 
about  the  divinity  of  their  God,  and   that    it   does    not    concern 
man's  happiness  or  improvement  whether   there  is    one  God  or 
one  thousand;  all  that  man  has  got  to  do  is   to  make    a   proper 
use  of  the  great  gifts  the  Creator  or  unknown   power   has  given 
him  and  he  wiil  certainly    be    happy   here  and    in  the    probable 
hereafter;  that  it  will    try  and   hasten    the    day    when   priest  or 
parson  will  no  longer  be  required,  when  every  man  will  be  a  priest 
unto  himself  in  the  glorious  work  of  elevating    himself  and  his 
fellow  men  to  the  highest  possible  state  of  perfection;  that  each 
member  swears  unceasing  resistance  to  the   fraudulent  and  tyr- 
annical spiritual  authority  that  has  been  usurped   by  the  Popes, 
Patriarchs,  Bishops  and  Archbishops  of  every   religious   organi- 
zation of  the  earth,  and  will  always  earnestly  endeavor  to  free  our 
tcllow  men  of  every  creed  and  color  from  the  thraldom  of  spiritual 
si  ivery;  persuade  all  men  "That  the  world  is  their  country  and  to 
do  good  is  their  religion."  Signed,  A.  N.  Howard,  I.  G.  Goldsmith, 
C.  H.  Carmicheal,  W.  A.  Goldsmith.     There  were  meetings  for 
a  few  months,  but  the  association  languished  and   died  for  want 
of  members.     Uncle  Richard  and  his  family  passed  the   summer 
months  at  Norfolk  and  visited  us   while  forest  fires  were  raging, 
but  could  not  stay  long  as   the  atmosphere  was  full  of  smoke, 
which  hurt   one    of  his  eyes   which  is  weak  from  over  work. 
There    seems    to    have   been  quite  a  mania  for  the  Houde  girls 
amongst  the  young  beaus  in  these  parts,  much  to  the  chargin  of 
other  belies;  as  much  as    15  young  men  visit  there  on  visiting 
nights,  which  are  Sundays,  Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and  Saturdays, 
the  remaining  evenings  are  called  "the  evenings  of  the  jealous," 
on  which  no  young  Canadian  goes  to  see  his  sweetheart.    When 
a  young  man  enters  one  of  the  young  girls  receives  his  hat  and 
overcoat  and  stows  them  away  on  a  bed  in   the  corner,  there 
being  no  other  convenient  place  to  put  them,  she  then  returns  to 
her  "cavalier"  or  first  gentleman  caller,  but  if  the  other  is   her 
favorite  he  comes  and  sits  by  her  and   usurps   her  all  to  himself, 
she  generally  asks  the  second  one,  if  a  favorite,  to  conduct  her  to 


52  insroRY  of  the  French  in  America. 

the  waterstand  for  a  drink  (which  is   generally  a   rough  wooden 
stand  with  buckets  of  water  on  it)  and  then  goes  with  him  to   a 
different  part  of  the  room,    leaving   the    poor   disconsolate   first 
caller  in  a  state  of  defeat  after  this   little  "coup  de  etat,"    to  be 
ridiculed    by   the   other   young  people  for  having  been  made  to 
"eat  oats,"  which  is   equivalent  to   the  common    English   term, 
"cut  out."     In  fact,  the  two  national  sports  of  the  French   Cana- 
dians consist  of  playing   cards  and  making  love.     In    the  dry 
months  I  deepened  the  course  of  the  stream  through  our  clear- 
ance and  in  some  places  found  beaver  dams    6   ft.  below  the  bed 
of  the  stream  with  the  marks  of  their  teeth  plainly  visible  on  the 
wood.    The  general  elections  came  off  in  the  spring,  the  Liberals 
had   only   one  majority,    but  their  victory  was  an  unsuspected 
event.     We  squared  the  timber  for  a  shed  75    ft.    long,   between 
the  barn  and  the  house,  and  put  it  up  with  a  "bee."     One  ot'  the 
men  at  the  "bee"  while   jumping  over  the  stream   sank   in  the 
mud  on  the  opposite  bank  and  lost  one  of  his  shoes  in  the  mud; 
while  on  his  knees  on  the  bank  with  his  sleeves  tucked  up  trying 
to  find  his  shoe,  one  of  his  companions  gave  him  a  shove  which 
sent  him  headforemost  into  the  mud,  this  was  greeted  by  roars  of 
laughter  by  the  rest;  when  he  crawled  out  of  that  slough  he  was 
the  most  pitable  object  imaginable,  and  the  volley   of  oaths  that 
he  sent  after  the  culprit,  who  ran  away,  was  appalling  even  to 
that  crowd  of  rough  men,  especially  those  including  the  name  of 
the  virgin,  which  name   seems  to  be   held  with  greater  respect 
among   them    than    that    of  God,     Some    of  the    more  devout 
remonstrated  when  he  uttered   what  they   considered    a   terrible 
oath,  which  translated  literally  means  "Damn  the  Host,"  which 
certainly  from  a  Catholic  point  of  view  is  one  of  the  worst  oaths. 
The  Orangemen  tried  to   walk   in    the    streets    of  Montreal  and 
were  arrested  by  Mayor  Beaudry,  and  the  Lower  Canadian  Par- 
Hament  passed  an  act  making  it  illegal  for   Orangemen    to   have 
processions;  much  to  the    credit  of  some  of  the    Liberals   they 
voted  against  the  bill,  although  Catholics.     I  am   not  by  any 
means  in  sympathy  with  Orangemen,  but  I  think  they   have  as 
much  right  to  have  their  processions    as   the    Irish    Catholics, 
The  elections  for  the    Dominion   Parliament  came  oft  and   the 
Conservatives    defeated     the    Liberals   with   an    overwhelming 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENXH  IN  AMERICA.  53 

majority.  The  niain  planks  in  their  platforms  were  protection 
for  tlie  Conservatives,  and,  free  trade  for  the  Liberals.  In  har- 
vest I  always  took  the  lead  at  mowing,  circlinf^  a  piece  and  let- 
ting the  hired  men  follow  me.  1  have  found  by  experience  that 
if  the  farmer  himself  does  not  know  what  amount  of  work  ought 
to  be  done  in  a  day  by  a  man,  that  a  great  many  hired  men  con- 
sider it  a  "soft  snap"  and  impose  on  him.  It  requires  a  great 
amount  of  practice  to  mow  in  rooty  and  rocky  land  without 
breaking  or  constantly  blunting  one's  scythe.  Had  a  "bee"  for 
mowing,  the  best  mower  around  here  challenged  any  man  in  the 
crowd  to  follow  him  and  circled  a  piece.  I  went  after  him,  and 
it  was  a  race  all  day,  but  he  could  not  get  ahead  of  me,  many 
atiavj  I  regretted  doing  so  and  felt  as  if  I  would  almost  faint 
from  exhaustion,  and  at  night  every  muscle  in  my  arm  ached; 
t!ie  str.iw  averaged  5  ft.  high,  having  erown  on  a  dark,  rich 
alluvial  soil.  In  the  autumn  I  commenced  digging  a  drain  10 
acres  long,  4  ft.  deep  and  3  ft.  wide,  which  will  drain  a  damp 
portion  of  our  clearance  into  the  stream.  During  the  summer  I 
went  to  several  "bees."  for  logging,  cutting  hay,  peeling  hemlock 
bark  and  building  houses,  and  also  instead  of  spending  what 
little  spare  time  I  had  in  self  improvement  I  wasted  it  in  flirting 
with  French  girls  and  playing  cards  and  other  games,  for  which 
I  often  dispise  myself  for  not  having  firmness  of  character  to 
shun  the  worthless  society  with  which  we  are  surrounded. 
Letters  received  in '78.  "My  dear  nephews:  What  pleasure  it  will 
give  me  to  drop  down  some  day  on  your  lots  and  see  your  fine 
house  and  barn  and  above  all  a  lot  of  land  cleared — good  crop 
bearing  land,  fiee  from  stones  and  brushwood;  what  a  comfort 
to  you  to  know  that  every  acre  is  a  freehold  forever.  Have  you 
got  legal  power  yet  for  clearing  the  brook  ?  It  surprises  me  to 
find  it  opposed  for  a  moment,  being  a  work  so  necessary,  not 
only  for  the  redemption  of  land  and  the  increase  of  wealth  to  the 
country,  but  also  conducive  to  health.  I  am  quite  sure  that  the 
body  of  stagnant  water  I  saw  must  breed  fever  and  ague,  exclu- 
sive to  the  loss  to  the  nation  by  keeping  so  much  land  waste  of 
such  great  fertility.  I  find  Canada  is  sending  over  her  sheep  and 
cattle  in  splendid  condition;  1  hope  this  trade  will  increase  and 
that  Canada,  which  I  like  so  much,   will   flourish.     I  should  like 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

you  to  buy  that  cheap  land  you  spoke  of,  or  any  that  is  a  good 
bargain;  perhaps  if  you  know  of  any  you  will  write  to  me  by 
return  of  post,  but  I  should  not  like  to  buy  it  unless  it  was  con- 
sidered very  cheap;  if  you  could  bid  for  it  at  auction  and  I 
would  send  you  the  money;  uncle  Herbert  got  his  lot  very  cheap 
in  that  way.  Unimportant  news.  With  fond  luve  to  you  both, 
your  affectionate  uncle,  Jerrold."  i/ih  Feb.  '78.  "My  dear 
Tom:  I  wish  to  congratulate  you  on  conling  of  age  and  at  the 
same  time  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  most 
important  period  of  your  life,  how  much  your  dear  mother 
would  be  pleased  to  do  the  same  now  if  she  was  alive;  bnt  God 
in  his  mercy  has  taken  her  from  scenes  and  circumstances  which 
are  almost  breaking  my  heart  as  ihey  did  hers,  but  what 
is  her  gain  now  is  my  sad  loss.  She  is  gone  to  her 
heavenly  home  and  eternal  rest  from  ihe  sins  and  sorrows 
and  vexations  of  this  life  to  enjoy  a  purer  and  unalloyed  happi- 
ness after  a  checkered  life  of  devotion^  and  self-denial  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  cf  her  fellow  creatures,  therefore  I 
should  not  murmur  at  the  Divme  will  for  her  sake,  though  many 
of  the  circumstances  connected  with  it  make  me  feel  it  mere 
keenly,  nor  indeed  murmur  at  all  on  my  account,  as  I  should  re- 
member that  God's  will  is  best  in  the  end,  but  I  do  feel  also  that 
this  is  a  very  solemn  time  for  you,  the  turning  point  as  it  were  of 
your  life,  that  which  may  stamp  your  future  career  not  only  in 
this  world  but  the  world  hereafter,  for  as  we  live  so  we  dic- 
(generally).  Some  may  be  brought  to  a  sense  of  God's  grace 
and  their  own  nothingness  without  him  in  their  last  days  but  it 
is  a  fearful  risk  to  run.  God  said  "they  that  seek  early  shall 
find  me."  Now  I  do  not  want  to  impute  that  you  do  not  love 
God,  but  as  your  father  and  one  having  gone  over  a  great  part 
of  the  ocean  of  life  I  must  know  something  of  the  rocks  and 
shoals  which  beset  man  and  would  therefore  like  to  warn  you. 
In  the  first  place  example  is  said  to  be  stronger  than  precept  and 
the  surroundings  here  are  very  far  from  what  tend  to  make  a 
man  a  noble  man,  a  gentleman,  let  alone  a  christian.  It  is  said 
"by  their  fruit  ye  shall  know  them,"  and  if  you  are  a  child  of 
God  you  cannot  be  happy  in  the  midst  of  evil.  A  christian  may 
be  in  the  world  and  may  use  the  things  of  the  world  (in  a  mod- 


HISTORY  OF  'HIE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  55" 

erate  and  useful  sense,  not  as  the  world  generally  do)  but  must 
not  be  of  the  world:  we  are  told  also  to  "love  not  the  world  or 
the  things  of  the  world,"  but  to  set  our  affections  on  things  above, 
heavenly  things,  sound  principles  which  constitute  the  will  of 
God;  to  "seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness 
and  all  things  necessary  will  be  added  unto  us:"  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  us:  heaven  is  above,  when  we  submit  to  the  reign 
of  Christ's  Holy  Spirit,  sanctifying  all  our  thoughts  and  aspira- 
tions and  bringing  our  wills  into  the  subjection  of  the  will  of 
God  our  Father  just  as  he  sets  us  an  example  "His  servants  ye 
are  to  whom  ye  yield  yoursjlves  servants,  to  obey  sin  unto  death 
or  God  unto  righteousness,"  also  "he  that  knovveth  his  Father's 
will  and  do2th  it  not  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes."  God 
often  make^  the  circumstances  of  this  life  prodnce  bad  stripes  on 
our  consciences  when  we  go  against  his  will  till  he  brings  us  in- 
to discipline,  industry  is  good  and  commendable,  humble  patient 
industry  becomes  the  christian,  it  may  be  slow  but  it  is  sure  and 
more  likely  to  have  God's  blessing  than  impulsive  and  inordinate 
ambition,  which  often  overleaps  itself  and  brmgs  its  own  pun- 
ishment as  many  speculators  on  this  continent  are  finding  to 
their  sorrow  now,  by  trying  to  do  more  than  their  circumstances 
would  permit,  often  defrauding  others  to  accomplish  it  or  ma- 
king hard  bargains  with  their  fellow-men;  God's  eye  is  on  all  our 
works  and  his  ear  is  open  to  the  cry  of  the  distressed  to-day  as 
much  as  it  ever  will  be;  he  may  be  slow  but  he  will  not  pass  it 
over,  sooner  or  later  he  brings  it  all  out;  there  is  nothing  which 
will  not  be  revealed  by  him  in  his  own  good  time  and  punished. 
The  true  child  of  God's  place  is  to  desire  neither  poverty  or  rich- 
es that  they  may  not  become  "poor,  or  mean  and  steal,"  nor  too 
full  and  forget  their  God.  A  mans  life  does  not  consist  in  that 
which  he  has  but  in  that  which  he  is  in  principles.  Dr.  Watts 
says:  "could  I  in  stature  reach  the  pole,  or  grasp  creation  in  my 
span,  I'd  still  be  measured  by  my  soul,  the  soul's  the  stature  of 
the  man.  Too  much  riches  are  a  curse  and  a  heavy  responsi- 
bility, for  "unto  whom  much  is  given  much  is  required,"  whether 
in  talent  of  the  mind  or  riches  requires  great  wisdom  and  grace 
to  use  them  wisely  for  good;  when  life  comes  near  its  end  we 
arc  but  stewards  over  it  and  unless  we  make  a  noble  use  of  it  it 


t6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

affords  us  no  real  or  lasting  pleasure;  "we  bring  nothing  into 
this  A'orld  and  we  can  take  nothing  out,  but  riches  may  produce 
remorse  if  badly  used  and  is  apt  to  cause  many  snares  and  temp- 
tations, if  we  have  not  the  wisdom  to  make  a  right  use  of  it.  I 
have  read  and  know  of  many  instances  of  young  people  going  to 
destruction  morally,  by  too  great  and  sudden  acquisition  of  wealth 
before  they  knew  how  to  make  a  good  use  ot  tt,  and  worse,  in 
some  instances  love  of  speculation,  and  intense  ambition,  in  others, 
all  of  which  is  quite  contrary  to  the  spnit  of  chiistiarity.  Your 
land  is  now  all  paid  for,  you  have  now  a  nice  and  easy  prospect 
before  you,  far  better  than  many  of  your  uncles  when  they  be- 
gan life,  for  your  land  is  gootl  arable  land  for  the  most  part  not 
having  so  many  stones  as  the  home  firm.  If  you  act  judiciously. 
in  a  few  years  you  will  begin  to  realize  money,  then  con^.es  the 
danger  to  the  young  and  inexperienced;  it  is  said  the  love  of 
money  increases  with  the  money  itself,  because  it  is  the  means  of 
indulgence  in  all  worldliness;  it  is  also  said  "to  be  the  root  of  all 
evil"  in  the  power  it  gives  and  the  abuse  of  it  unless  the  possessor 
is  living  under  the  fear  and  love  of  God;  the  fear  of  doing  wrong 
and  the  desire  of  doing  right  is  not  n  itural  to  any  of  us  even  in  a 
regenerated  state,  we  are  prone  to  go  astray  without  constant 
reference  to  the  word  of  God  and  a  careful  and  serious  study  of 
if  to  the  young  it  may  appear  a  dry  book  but  it  is  not  so,  the 
more  it  is  read  the  more  it  will  be  found  to  be  the  fountain  of 
true  life  a  self  interpreting  book,  the  most  sublime  soul-purifying 
and  comforting  book  that  can  be  read  as  a  guide  in  the  affairs  of 
life  as  well  as  in  the  life  to  come.  The  world  has  its  attractions, 
companions  and  lawful  duties,  which  when  not  ruled  by  order 
and  system  which  is  Heaven's  first  law,  they  tend  to  distract  and 
divert  us  irom  it;  I  find  it  so  myself  and  always  did  through  life 
if  not  guarded  against,  but  I  thank  God  it  is  not  new  to  me,  I 
have  read  much  of  it  in  my  early  days  and  it  has  beeii  a  great 
blessing  to  me  and  I  can  truly  say  it  has  been  a  lamp  to  me  in 
my  brightest  as  well  as  my  darkest  hours,  its  principles  and  pre- 
cepts being  a  check  and  guide  to  me  in  all  difficulties  and  temp- 
tations, which  naturally  beset  every  one  in  all  positions  and 
circumstances  of  life;  no  one  can  be  truly  happy  without  a  Jvnow- 
.  ledge  of  it.     You  are  now  about  to  commence  life  on  your  own 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  57 

responsibility,  you  are  as  it  were  a  young  human  fruit  tree  just 
transplanted  and  you  will  need  care  till  firmly  rooted  in  sound 
principles;  you  have  had  some  grafting  of  good  things  done  for 
you  but  you  will  find  there  will  always  be  some  pruning  of  un- 
reasonable propensities,  to  do  otherwise  you  cannot  bear  good 
fruit.  There  is  also  the  parable  of  the  sower  and  the  wheat;  I 
am  anxious  often  when  I  think  of  you  both  (Arthur  also)  for 
much  good  seed  has  been  sown,  but  what  of  the  fowls  of  the  air 
(bad  company)  also  the  weeds  and  briars  of  life  (the  cares  of  life) 
choking  it.  Oh,  my  dear  boy,  I  cannot  give  you  the  riches  of 
this  life  but  1  would  warn  you  with  all  your  getting  to  get  un- 
derstanding and  wisdom,  which  is  more  precious  than  rubies; 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with  God;  the  wisdom  of 
the  Bible  is  the  swcetner  of  life;  the  Bible  is  the  mirror  of  life 
where  every  man  can  see  his  own  character  and  above  all  God's 
grace  to  fallen  man  and  the  principles  by  which  regenerated  mar> 
may  enjoy  something  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  within  us. 
While  in  life  serving  God  our  reasonable  duty  is  to  glorify  our 
Redeemer  as  branches  of  the  true  vine  of  which  he  is  the  head; 
our  fruit  should  be  goodness,  truth,  mercy,  righteousness,  broth- 
erly love,  and  such  like:  in  the  Mosaic  dispensation  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  given  for  that  period,  but  in  the  christian  dis- 
pensation God  has  given  but  one  commandment  "to  love  one- 
another,"  for  it  includes  the  whole  law  of  God;  love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law  and  does  mercy  with  all  righteousness  and 
sees  all  christians  as  the  children  of  one  father  redeemed  from 
the  spirit  of  a  sinful  world  which  still  offers  us  the  same  terms 
which  Satan  was  permitted  to  tempt  our  Saviour  with,  namely 
"all  those  things  I  give  unto  thee  if  thou  wilt  fall  down  and  wor- 
ship me"  he  is  still  the  Prince  of  power  of  this  world,  working  in 
the  hearts  of  all  who  do  not  resist  and  reject  him  as  the  Saviour 
did;  even  christians  still  are  liable  to  do  wrong  and  err  as  others 
if  they  from  any  cause  quench  the  strivings  of  the  Holy  Syirit 
or  neglect  it,  then  he  takes  its  place  and  they  are  his  captives 
for  a  time  being  led  astray  by  some  weakness,  allurement  or  pro- 
pensity; the  sincere  christian  will  be  sorry  and  try  to  avoid  the 
causes  that  lead  to  it  from  a  oure  love  of  goodness  and  a  desire 
to  please   God,  not   for   the    mere   sake  of  appearance   or  con- 

8 


$8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.jf 

sequence  only;  the  Lords  Prayer  is  a  key  to  that,  it  is  a  Bible  in 
a  nutshell,  as  it  were  employing  great  principles,  but  the  one  I 
allude  to  is  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation;"  that  is  the  great  thin^ 
to  know  and  what  to  avoid  also;  we  cannot  stand  temptation 
of  ourslves;  if  we  know  anything  to  be  wrong  we  should  avoid 
it  and  not  stop  to  question  it,  but  reject  it  at  once  as  Christ  did; 
his  purpose  was  to  be  our  example  as  well  as  our  Redeemer; 
His  sacrifice  put  away  the  wrath  of  God  for  original  sin;  His  ex- 
ample teaches  us  how  to  live  as  christian  followers  of  him,  a 
peculiar  people  redeemed  from  the  spirit  of  the  world,  sanctified 
unto  good  works  and  while  using  the  things  of  the  world  not  to 
abuse  them  nor  let  them  ensnare  us  unto  the  ways  of  the  world; 
Christians  should  be  an  example  to  the  world  and  not  followers 
of  it;  whatsoever  we  do  should  be  done  unto  the  glory  of  God 
and  for  the  God  of  mankind;  no  Christian  can  live  to  himself  he 
must  live  to  and  for  God  and  mankind;  we  are  bought  with  a 
price,  the  price  of  Christ's  blood  and  if  we  reject  God's  grace  and 
live  according  to  the  will  of  the  flesh  and  not  according  to  his 
Holy  Spirit  can  we  wonder  if  he  rejects  us  hereafter;  we  are  cre- 
ated in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  spiritually  with  a  free  will 
of  our  own  but  are  responsible  for  the  use  and  abuse  of  it.  I  re- 
gret that  you  have  no  better  society;  the  society  here  reminds 
me  of  Bishop  Heber's  hymn  describing  "Ceylon's  lovely  isle, 
where  every  prospect  pleases  and  only  man  is  vile;"  but  there  is 
much  to  be  thankful  for,  even  here  if  there  was  only  a  right 
spirit  of  reciprocity,  but  this  cannot  be  where  the  love  of  God 
does  not  abound,  even  those  who  have  any  little  share  of  it 
have  something  to  do  to  preserve  it,  therefore  temptations  and 
example  of  an  injurious  kind  is  much  against  you  and  the  dan- 
ger to  the  young  of  forming  injurious  and  improper  habits  is 
very  great  if  not  guarded  against;  habits  are  like  a  chain  not 
easily  broken,  therefore  you  should  be  careful  not  to  have  un- 
necessary acquaintance  with  those  who  do  not  tend  to  exalt  and 
improve  you;  better  have  no  con.pany  than  bad  company.  St, 
Paul  says  let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order;  order  is 
m  business  what  harmony  is  in  music,  it  helps  the  memory  some 
time  and  promotes  peace  and  happiness;  promptness,  punctuality 
and  conscientiousness  are  of  great  consequence  also,  the  first 


filSTOR\    OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  $9 

saves  time,  loss  and  accidents,  the  second  respect  credit  and  ease 
of  mind,  the  third  the  basis  of  sound  integrity,  without  which  a 
man  is  worse  than  nothing:  in  work  whatever  is  worth  doing  is 
worth  doing  well  and  pays  the  best  in  the  end;  exaggeration, 
prevarication  and  deceit  are  only  the  attributes  of  crafty  and  ig- 
norant men,  and  those  who  would  have  a  consience  void  of  oftence 
towards  God  and  man  cannot  do  so;  the  world's  spirit  is  selfish- 
ness, the  Christians  is  self-denial;  no  cross  no  crown:  a  Christian 
has  three  characters,  first  the  child  in  the  spirit  to  learn  the  father's 
will,  second  the  servant  to  do  it  and  show  it  by  his  conduct,  also 
the  soldier  to  conquer  sin  in  ourselves  and  others  by  the  gui- 
dance of  his  Holy  Spirit  and  word.  I  have  written  this  to  you 
to  warn  you  commencing  the  voyage  of  life,  to  lead  you  more 
closely  to  the  narrow  road  that  leads  to  everlasting  life  that  you 
may  not  only  be  happy  here  but  hereafter.  I  would  like  to  say 
more  to  you  both  but  you  will  find  better  than  my  feeble  words 
can  say  in  the  New  Testament,  Psalms  and  proverbs  especially; 
read  often,  it  is  the  chart  of  life  and  will  assuredly  make  you  hap- 
py and  good;  it  will  bring  order,  happiness  and  peace  to  your 
house;  it  is  the  root  and  foundation  of  all  true  greatness, 
goodness  and  happiness;  it  is  my  only  consolation  after  the  dis- 
appointments of  life;  my  sincerest  wish  is  for  your  spiritual  and 
temporal  welfare,  but  remember  that  text  "v/hat  will  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul."  God 
bless  you  both:  your  affectionate  father,  J.  E.  Howard."  Mon- 
treal Oct  1st  78.  "Dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  father  told  me  to  write 
and  ask  either  of  you  to  come  into  town  for  a  few  days,  I  expect 
yon  are  not  very  busy  as  all  your  crops  are  in,  we  have  been 
having  heavy  rains  lately.  Edison  the  great  inventor  is  seriously 
ill.  What  do  you  think  of  the  personel  of  the  new  cabinet? 
The  failure  of  the  Glasgow  bank  has  caused  a  great  deal  of  de- 
pression in  the  business  circles  of  Scotland.  Gas  stock  went 
down  13  per  cent  here  on  account  of  the  electric  light,  but  it  has 
commenced  -to  go  up  again;  if  they  use  the  telephone  instead  of 
the  telegraph  it  will  do  away  with  a  great  many  telegragh  oper- 
ators; how  strange  it  was  for  your  colt  to  change  from  a  dark 
brown  to  a  light  grey.  I  must  now  close  as  I  have  to  read  not:es 
for  my  lecture,  with  love  from  all  your  affectionate  cousin,  Cliff- 


6o  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

ord  H.   Goldsmith."     October  78  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur. 
We  expect  father  back  from  England  in  a  few  days,  he  says  his 
eyes  are  much  improved  he  is  anxious  to  return  to  his  practice, 
the  Marquis  of  Lome  and  the  Princess  Louise  will  arrive  here  by 
the  beginning  of  next  month.     The  great  Hanlan  and  Courtney 
race  was  to  have  been  rowed  yesterday  at  La  Chine,  but  the 
weather  was  unfavorable  so  it  did  not  come  off,  they  will  not  row 
unless  the  water  is  as  smooth  as  glass;  the  betting  is  3  to  i  on 
Hanlan,  which  is  absurd ;    there  are  about  30,000  strangers  in 
town  to  see  the  race.     I  was  pleased  to  see  that  the  country  you 
live  in  returned  a  Conservative;  it  was  a  glorious  victory.    Mon- 
treal returned  3  Conservative  members  by  large  majorities;  there 
was  great  excitement  here  at  the  time.    I  now  attend  McGill  col- 
lege; Flora  and  Mr.  Butler  have  been  staying  with  us  for  the 
last   few   days.      Your   affectionate   cousin,   C.  H.  Goldsmith." 
"Aug.  '78.     Horton   House,  Abbeydale,  Salford,  England.     My 
dear  Arthur:     I  was  so  glad  to  get  your  letter  and  hear  what 
you  and  Tom  are  doing  on  your  farms,  Timothy  is  always  in- 
terested too,  and  likes  me  to   read  your  letters  to  him;  he  is  so 
surprised  at  the  quantity  of  land  you  have  and  to  think  of  your 
just  cleared  and  sow  21  acres  !     We  had  such  fine  weather  for 
haymaking  and  had  about  15  tons.     I  suppose  you  know  that 
Mabel  has  come  over  and  is  paying   us  a  visit   now.    It   is   so 
delightful  having  her  here,  and  she  and  little  Constance  are  great 
friends.     On  Tuesday  she  is  going  on  a  visit  to  uncle  Jerrold. 
'   We  had  such  a  nice  trip  to  the  lakes  at  Windermere,  Derwent- 
''  water;  Mabel  was  with  us  and  took  many  sketches.    We  noticed 
•''  how  beautiful  all  the  trees  and  shrubs  were  in  the   lake  district." 
'■.  Minor  items  end  it.     "Montreal,  Nov.  i6th.      My  dear  Arthur: 
When  you  were  in  town  you  spoke  to  me  about  selling  the  tim- 
ber on  your  lots.      I  thought  you  knew  best  and  consented,  but 
on  second  consideration  think  it  is  the  most  foolish  bargain  you 
could  make  and  that  your  land  would  be  perfectly  worthless; 
you  are  aware  that  wood  is  getting  scarcer  every  year  in  your 
neighborhood,  with  another  railway  almost  at  your  door  aud  the 
great  quantity  the  Grand  Trunk  consume  annually,  the  wood  on 
your  land  must  become  valuable.     If  the  timber  rots  as  you  say 
it  will  make  manure;  it  is  worth  more  than  twice  what  you  pro- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  6l 


^ 


pose  to  sell  it  for;  with  regard  to  buying  those  200  acres  from 
Dolierty  at  60  cents  an  acre  think  you  had  better  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it;  you  and  Tom  have  entered  into  a  joint  partnership 
to  settle  on  and  farm  lots  34  and  35,  as  one  of  the  partners  I  do 
not  think  it  the  coirect  thing  for  one  of  you  to  enter  into  any 
speculation  on  his  own  account;  remember  neither  of  you  are 
land  speculators,  it  is  a  question  whether  you  have  not  too  much 
on  your  lands  already.  I  know  everything  I  say  here  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  your  uncle's  wishes  and  as  he  has  left  the  matter 
to  my  judgment  I  give  you  my  advice  in  the  matter  and  cannot 
change  unless  he  instructs  me  to  do  so.  You  do  not  say  one 
word  about  the  Roman  Catholic  church  tax  you  would  have  to 
pay  on  the  land."  in  a  note  at  Christmas  he  sent  us  a  present 
of  ^5;  in  June  he  wrote  from  Norfolk  where  he  spent  the  summer 
months  with  his  family:  "My  dear  boys  I  received  yours  of  the 
i6th,  I  hear  you  will  have  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  the  burn- 
ing of  the  20  acres,  in  consequence  of  the  ram,  we  have  had  very 
wet  weather  here:  the  frost  has  damaged  the  vegetables,  Mabel 
will  spend  the  Summer  and  Autumn  in  England,  R.  I.  Gold- 
smith." P.  S.  Richard  still  coughs  a  great  deal;  I  have  not 
decided  on  a  farm  here  for  Clifford  as  they  are  exhorbitantly  dear. 
London  August  26th  78.  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur.  Your 
letters  were  delivered  this  morning  and  gave  me  great  pleasure: 
it  is  always  great  happiness  to  me  to  hear  of  your  clearing  the 
land  and  improving  it:  every  man  that  clears  an  acre  of  land 
confers  a  benefit  on  mankind;  it  is  so  much  additional  wealth  ad- 
ded to  the  country  and  while  you  serve  yourselves  you  add  wealth 
and  prosperity  to  the  nation,  besides  it  is  your  own  free  hold 
forever  and  bye  and  bye  it  will  be  such  a  pleasure  to  look  at  the 
wealth  and  estate  you  have  created  With  your  own  hands  and 
brains;  it  requires  great  cleverness,  skill  and  perseverance  to 
make  a  fine  estate;  after  the  rough  work  is  over  you  can  do  the 
ornamental  part,  such  as  planting  shrubs  and  trees,  and  fiist  of 
all  an  orchard  and  a  fruit  and  vegetable  garden,  A  good  fenced 
in  garden  is  a  treasure.  How  the  Canadians  out  far  away  get 
bricks  is  not  within  our  knowledge,  here  we  require  walls  for 
fruit  trees,  such  as  peaches,  plums  and  grapes,  probably  wooden 
fencing  does  as  well.    When  you  write  to  cousin  Sarah  give  her 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

my  love  and  say  how  glad    I  am  she  has  a  little  daughter;  .give 
my  love  to  uncle  Herbert  and  his  family.     I  am  looking  forward 
to  the  pleasure  of  going  with  your  aunt  and  Rupert  to  stay  for 
a  time  in  Canada  and  build  a  hut,  good  bye,  your  affectionate 
uncle,  Jerrold  Goldsmith."     Received   letter  from  Mr.  Hogarth, 
dated  San  Mateo,  San  Mateo  Co.  California,  saying  that  he  had 
just  returned  from   Arizona  where  he   had  the  charge  of  a  stud 
farm  for  one  of  California's  millionaire's,  also  a  letter  from  uncle 
Jerrold  asking  us  to  buy   for  him  some  cheap  land  and  that  he 
would  send  us  the  amount;  letter  from   uncle  Timothv  Howard 
to  father,  Waterford,  Ireland,  "Dear  Jonathan,  Your's  of  the  29th 
inst.  reached    me  yesterday.     Thursday   is   our  only   Canadian 
post  day;  I  enclose  a  credit  letter  on  Montreal  bank  for  £^  which 
.  I  hope  will  help  you;  the   season  here  promises   well   and  I  am 
glad  to  hear  that  your  prospects  are   favorable;  the  Church  fam- 
.  ily  would  only  be  a  drag  on  you,  they  are  most  helpless,  neither 
'  of  the  boys  do  anything  and  the  girls   weak  and  delicate;  Beau- 
fort was  a  clerk  in  a  store  for  a  short  time  at  3^.  per  week  which 
«  was  afterwards  raised  to  1 05.  and  Timothy  received  ;£2  as   assis- 
'.  tant  teacher  in  a  school  of  design,  but  both  are  now  doing  nothing: 
'_  they  are  not  however  dependant  on  their  relations  as  when  our 
.  sister  Anne  died  she  entrusted  her  money  in  my  care,  the  interest 
[  of  which  gives  the  children  £4  los  a  month;  sister  Bess  last 
T  month  was  75.  I  am  72  and  continue  in  my  business;  I  sent  you 
"  last  week  English  illustrated  papers,  your  affectionate  brother, 
Timothy  Howard."     June  78.     My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur.     We 
are  at  present  at  Norfolk,  Bruntfield  Lake.     Our  cottage  is  very 
[  pretty  on  the  edge  of  the  Lake;  I  have  been  twice  out  fishing 
I  with  very  little  success.     It  rained  all  last   night,  whenever  is 
rains  I  think  of  your  land  that  you  have  to  clear:  this  part  of  the 
country  is  very  like  yours,  a  good  deal  of  rock  and  swamp,  yet 
^  the  land  is  very  dear,  from  $12  to  1^25  an  acre.     There  is  one 
farm  here  for  which  they  ask  ;^  13.000,  which  amounts  to  ;^40  an 
acre;  the  owner  must  be  crazy  to  ask  such  a  price  although  he 
.  says  that  the  water  power  on  it  is  the  best  in  Canada.     The  rail- 
way that  runs  from  Sutton  will  pass  through  Norfolk.     I  think 
Richard's  cough  is  better  since  we  came  here;  hoping  to  hear 
from  you  soon,   I   remain  your  affectionate  uncle,  R.  I.  Gold- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  63 

smith."  6th  Dec.  '78.  Tom  and  I  are  cutting  cord  wood;  we 
have  sold  to  Mr.  Meredith.  There  are  about  2  inches  of  snow 
on  the  ground.  Frank  Dodsley,  father's  home  boy  has  gone  t3 
work  for  Carmicheals  for  1^15  a  year  with  board  and  clothes. 
In  the  Witness  I  see  that  the  Marquis  of  Lome,  the  new 
Governor  General  for  Canada,  with  his  wife  the  Princess  have 
arrivec^,  thay  received  a  grand  reception  at  Halifax  and  at  all 
the  chief  towns  on  their  way  to  Montreal,  where  they  received  a 
magnificent  reception;  the  whole  city  was  illuminated  and  the 
depot  decorated  with  evergreens  as  well  as  mottoes  and  arches 
across  the  principal  streets;  they  left  for  Ottawa,  the  capital,  on 
Monday.  The  Eastern  affairs  look  unsettled  although  every- 
thing seemed  to  have  been  peaceably  arranged  by  the  Congress 
at  Berlin  Our  buckwheat  was  a  heavy  yield  and  we  have  occa- 
sionally buckwheat  cakes  with  maple  syrup  for  a  change.  Uncle 
Herbert  is  better  from  the  effects  of  a  severe  fall  he  received,  at 
one  time  his  life  was  despaired  of.  It  truly  takes  very  little  to 
extinguish  the  lamp  of  life  when  it  begins  to  flicker  in  the 
period  of  old  age.  Helped  the  G.  boys  to  saw  wood;  it  takes  4 
men  to  work  a  sawing  machine,  i  to  drive  the  team,  i  to  remove 
the  blocks  when  sawed  and  i  to  sit  on  a  bar  to  keep  the  log 
steady  while  being  sawed.  Had  a  Frenchman  to  kill  our  pigs, 
he  did  not  stun  it  before  bleeding  it  as  the  English  settlers  do; 
said  that  the  animal  did  not  bleed  as  much  when  insensible  and 
that  the  meat  was  not  as  white;  he  wanted  to  burn  the  hair  oft 
the  pig  with  straw,  the  usual  way  they  do  it,  but  we  preferred 
having  it  moved  with  scalding  water,  as  burning  it  off  gives  the 
meat  a  disagrreeable  flavor,  nth  Dec.  Rained  hard  all  night. 
All  t\\t  snow  is  gone  and  the  two  streams  on  our  lots  are  flooded. 
Most  of  our  evenings  we  spend  in  playing  cards  and  flirting  with 
French  girls.  While  cutting  wood  in  the  damp  land  of  the 
beaver  meadows  my  boots  get  frozen  so  hard  that  I  have  to 
thaw  them  out  before  I  can  pull  them  oft  There  has  been 
^another  fall  of  snow,  just  enough  to  whiten  the  ground;  the 
.evenings  now  are  very  long  it  gets  dark  at  4  o'clock,  from  this  to 
10  gives  6  hours  for  self-improvement,  but  somehow  after  severe 
physical  exertion  all  day,  a  sociable  evening  with  our  French 
neighbors  seems  to  have  greater  attractions  to  us  than  useful 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

study.  A  Frenchman  offered  us  30  cents  a  hundred  for  the  cut 
of  our  ties,  which  we  refused,  as  the  usual  price  is  $1  ;  paid  Mrs. 
Brodeur  50  cents  for  a  double  knitted  pair  af  woolen  mits,  30 
cents  is  the  usual  price.  Tom  and  I  cut  4^  cords  of  wood  in  a 
Gay  of  ash  which  splits  very  easily.  VVc  have  finished  cutting 
50  cords  for  Meredith;  cut  a  supply  of  wood  for  father.  ,  John 
Kirwin  has  married  Norah  Doherty,  although  when  quizzed 
about  him  she  indignantly  replied  that  she  would  never  many 
an  old  bachelor  like  him.  Went  to  Meredith's;  talked  in  the 
deaf  and  dumb  alphabet  to  Jennie;  asked  Nicholas  to  come  and 
measure  the  wood  we  sold  them.  Mrs.  M.  asked  me  to  a  party 
to  be  held  in  the  village  schoolhouse;  Florence  and  Maud  were 
spending  the  evening  at  Willoughby's.  22  Dec.  It  has  snowed 
heavily  all  night;  there  are  snow  drifts  2  ft.  deep.  Of  late  I 
have  been  thinking  of  leaving  the  vulgar  and  degrading  associa- 
tions with  which  we  are  surrounded  and  of  trying  to  enter  some 
English  millitary  college.  While  at  Houde's  last  evening  I  met 
the  lover  of  the  eldest  daughter,  he  seems  to  be  greatly  capti- 
vated with  her;  his  arm  encircled  her  waist  and  her  head  rested 
on  his  shoulder;  every  minute  or  so  he  would  whisper  loving 
sentences  into  her  ear;  they  passed  the  whole  evening  thus  from 
8  till  12,  sitting  in  a  corner  of  the  room.  For  my  part  I  would 
not  like  to  have  to  express  the  sentiments  of  my  heart  to  the 
being  I  loved,  before  a  whole  housefuU  of  people,  and  I  think 
even  the  most  devoted  of  lovers  would  find  it  rather  monotonous 
uttering  love  sentences  4  hours  a  night,  4  nights  a  week  for 
several  months  duration.  The  father  and  mother  generally  after 
a  game  of  cards  or  so  with  some  neighbor  who  has  called,  go  to 
sleep;  the  father  on  the  floor  by  the  stove  with  his  coat  under 
his  head,  and  the  mother  in  her  rocking  chair.  Dec.  24th. 
Went  to  Aston  and  bought  the  ingredients  for  our  Christmas 
dinner.  Went  to  Meredith's;  played  checkers  and  whist  with 
Florence,  Alfred  and  Jennie.  Mr.  M.  has  just  arrived  from 
Wyandotte  Silver  Smelting  Works  where  he  is  employed  ;  went 
to  a  party  at  the  school-house ;  the  fair  young  ladies  of  Aston 
were  well  represented  ;  presents  were  distributed  to  the  younger 
children  from  the  Christmas-tree,  after  which  many  of  the  ladies 
kindly  favored  us  with  singing  and  music  and  some  of  the  gentle- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  65 

men  made  speeches  and  related  amusing  anecdotes;  after  a  pleas- 
ant evening  the  assembly  parted  after  singing  "God  Save  the 
Queen."     Tom  and  I  waited  for  mid-night  mass;  the  church  is  a 
fine  stone  building;  besides  the  organ  there  was  an  excellent  brass 
band,  which  played  some  very  fine  music,  but  the    service  and 
ceremony  seemed  to  m<^  not  as  good  as  a  poor  pantomime,  and 
better  suited  with  all  its   set   forms  and    mechanical  movements 
for  the  worship  in  some  Japanese  or  Siamese  temple,  than  for 
that  of  a  church  in  one   of  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth;  it 
lasted  nearly  two  hours  and  we  were  nearly  frozen,  there   being 
no  furnace  as  yet  in  the  church;    it  was   amusing   to   see   the 
breath    of  hundreds  of  people  issuing    from   their  mouths  as  if 
tliey  wers  smoking  furiously.     It  was  surprising  to  me  how  del- 
icate ladies  could  stand  such  cold  and  there  were  but  very  (gw 
of  them  that  did  not  stay  the  service  out.      Next  day  dined  at 
G's;  we  conversed   on  school  affairs  and  decided  that  it  would 
require  great  unity  on  the  part  of  the  Protestant  families  to  keep 
the  school  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  R.  C's.,  which  if  it 
did  we  would  have   to   pay  taxes  four  times  as  high  as  we  are 
now   paying.      Read  "Devereaux,"   a  novel  by  Lord   Lytton, 
which  gives  a  good  portrayal   of  the  crafty  Jesuits;  went  to  a 
dance  in  the  evening  at    Houde's;    spent   a   pleasant   evening 
during  the  week  at   Meredith's,    Miss  Eliza  Grant  was  there; 
Mabel  Willoughby  and  Florence  played  some  nice  duets;  Nicho- 
las promised  to  come  and   inspect  the   rails  we  had  sold  him; 
Nicholas  inspected  the   rails  and   but   very  few    of   them  were 
"culls;"  he  remained  over  night  and  we  played  dominoes,  check- 
ers and  cards  and  related  anecdotes  till    3   a.   m ,  also  discussed 
the  state  of  society  of  the  present  day  and  what  a  great  influence 
the  "almighty  dollar"   has  in  it;  Nicholas   has  rather  socialistic 
views  on  the  equality  of  all  men;  I  argued   that  the  barriers  of 
the  different  classes  of  society  would  never  be  brought  all  to  the 
Sime  level  for  the  very  reason  that  all   mankind   can   never  be- 
come equal  in  intellect,  education,  wealth  or  merit,  but  that  the 
day  would  come   when   all  men  of  merit  and  worth  would  form 
one  distinct  class  of  society  regardless  of  wealth  or  high  sound- 
ing  titles  or  names.     Lent  Nicholas  several  novels  by  Sir  W. 
Scott.      The    English    are   having   a   successful   campaign   in 


66  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Afghanistan.  Sunday,  had  a  conversation  with  Tom  about  the 
great  inconsistencies  of  the  hves  of  most  of  the  followers  of  the 
religions  of  the  present  day,  who  mostly  believe  that  their 
religion  alone  is  the  perfect  one  even  though  its  fol  lowers 
are  in  a  semi-civilized  condition.  Now  I  held  that  there 
must  be  something  essentially  wrong  with  all  the  religions 
of  the  earth  and  their  system  of  training;  the  rising  generations 
or  most  of  their  followers  would  not  be  such  worthless  and  mis- 
erable specimens  of  humanity,  as  it  must  be  acknowledged  most 
of  them  are.  Their  apologists  however  reply  that  it  is  not  the 
fault  of  their  religions  or  their  doctrines  but  that  of  mankind, 
who  will  not  follow  or  live  up  to  them.  Now  I  must  say  that 
this  is  a  base  and  lying  excuse,  for  there  have  been  nations  in 
Europe  that  have  been  the  subservient  and  humble  slaves  of  the 
Catholic  priesthood  for  the  last  looo  years,  in  such  countries  as 
Italy  and  Spain.  Now  if  "God's  most  holy  priesthood"  in  lOOO 
years  of  instruction  can  produce  no  better  or  more  civilized  peo- 
ple than  the  Spaniards  or  Italians,  I  think  all  truly  liberal  men 
must  acknowledge  that  it  is  high  time  for  all  intelligent  men  of 
all  classes  of  society  to  unite  together  for  the  overthrow  of  such 
a  worthless  system  and  use  the  intellectual  powers  a  Supreme 
Being  has  given  them  in  establishing  a  new  system  of  training; 
the  rising  generations  that  will  produce  better  men  and  women 
physically,  mentally  and  morally  than  the  majority  of  those 
which  the  christian  churches  have  produced;  in  justice  however 
to  all  the  christian  churches  I  must  say  that  they  bring  much 
evil  reputation  on  themselves  by  not  following  the  injunction  of 
that  wonderful  book  their  Bible:  "Therefore  come  ye  out  from 
among  them  and  be  ye  separate  saith  the  Lord;"  in  fact  they 
have  admitted  so  many  nominal  christians  into  their  churches 
that  the  true  christians  form  but  a  very  small  minority,  the  un- 
godly and  disgraceful  lives  of  these  nominal  members  combined 
with  the  leading  position  they  occupy  in  the  churches  has  a  most 
injurious  effect  on  the  lives  of  the  rising  christian  generations,  in 
fact  if  they  continue  to  violate  this  wise  injunction  of  their  bible 
all  good  men  in  future  years  will  be  ashamed  to  hq  members  of 
churches  that  allow  rascals  for  the  sake  of  a  few  ^^looo  to  be 
members  of  it,  although  they  have  risen  to  ignoble  wealth  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  6/ 

power  by  defrauding  and  oppressing  the  more  helpless  portion 
of  humanity;  told  Tom  that  if  we  ever  expected  to  become  noble 
and  useful  men  we  must  cease  drifting  into  the  low  manners, 
habits  and  customs  of  the  people  that  surround  us  and  make  an. 
effort  to  acquire  a  love  for  the  most  useful  and  advanced  studies 
which  would  elevate  us  and  enable  us  to  become  useful  members 
of  the  best  of  society,  and  that  the  only  way  for  us  to  avoid  a 
dishonorable  use  of  our  spare  moments  would  be  to  have  ever 
before  us  useful  employment  and  recreation  as  well  as  honorable 
auibition  and  high  aspirations;  Tom  said  with  a  smile  why  my 
dear  fellow  to  c-irry  out  such  a  course  of  action  during  life  would 
cause  you  to  be  regarded  as  a  bore  and  disagreeable  fellow  by 
most  classes  of  society  of  the  present  day;  imagine  for  instance 
if  in  the  society  of  ordinary  ladies  you  refused  to  converse  on 
the  light  vapory  and  useless  subjects  which  they  discuss,  how 
soon  you  would  be  shunned  by  them  (as  "a  disagreeable  bear") 
for  the  society  of  some  one  who  would  listen  with  profound  inter- 
est to  the  trivial  incidents  that  occurred  at  the  last  party  of  Mrs. 
so  and  so.  While  at  Aston  on  the  31st  saw  the  great  prepara- 
tions the  Meredith's  are  making  for  a  great  party  they  are  going 
to  have.  In  consequence  of  the  arrival  of  cousins  Richard  and 
Clifford  we  have  improved  our  bill  of  fare  as  Richard  is  in  very 
delicate  health  and  would  require  what  we  would  consider  as 
delicacies;  he  and  Clifford  are  thinking  of  becoming  farmers;  we 
all  dine  at  G's  on  Jan  1st,  1879.  Nicholas  came  out  for  a  load 
of  wood  next  day;  in  the  evening  I  went  to  Meredith's  to  see  if 
they  wanted  any  more  wood;  Mrs.  M.  thought  they  would  buy 
wood  closer  to  their  place;  they  wanted  me  to  stay  to  the  party 
but  said  our  cousins  had  just  arrived  and  that  I  had  promised  to 
spend  the  evening  at  my  uncles.  The  roads  are  badly  drifted; 
upset  once  returning;  have  agreed  to  swamp  50  cords  of  wood 
for  Meredith's  fjr  $10;  he  has  bought  2  ft.  stovewood  to  be  de-' 
livered  at  his  house  for  90  cts.  a  cord;  which  is  very  low;  Clifford 
read  an  agricultural  lecture  aloud;  it  advocated  econimization  of 
manure  and  the  sowing  of  clover  as  a  fertilizer,  as  its  leaves  de- 
rive a  greater  part  of  its  nourishment  from  the  atmosphere.  Of 
late  we  have  been  cutting  down  and  cutting  in  lengths  the  stand- 
ing timb'jr  on  some  land  that  we  are  going  to  clear  in  the  spring, 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

and  chiefly  spent  the  evenings  in  reading  many  of  the  useful  and 
choice  works  our  cousins  brought  with  them.  For  the  last  three 
days  and  nights  it  has  almost  snowed  unceasingly  till  it  is  now 
3/^  ft,  deep.  One  of  Earl  ]5eaconfield's  novels  appeared  to  me 
rather  smutty.  Devlin  asked  me  to  break  a  "short  cut"  for  him 
to  Aston  with  our  oxen  for  which  he  gave  me  ;^i.50,  but  after- 
wards regretted  as  I  had  a  very  hard  ^  days  work  with  him  and 
5  other  men;  were  completely  tired  out  when  we  reached  Aston 
at  8  p.m.  the  snow  was  damp  and  melting  which  is  the  best  time 
to  have  a  snow  road  "broken."  The  five  men  walked  ahead  up 
to  their  waists  in  snow  and  the  oxen  followed  with  a  sleigh;  slept 
at  Kirwin's,  Delvin's  brother-in-law,  who  keeps  a  store  in  Aston; 
had  a  bad  cold  for  several  days  after.  13th  Jan.  drove  Richard 
and  Clifford  to  Montreal;  I  beat  Dubue  at  checkers;  he  is  the 
champion  checker  player  in  these  parts.  We  hired  a  man  to 
thresh  our  oats  at  $2.50  a  day,  we  to  board  himself  his  team  and 
hired  man;  the  first  day  we  threshed  64  bushels;  in  the  evenings 
played  dominoes,  checkers  and  cards;  Louis  Brodeur  talks  of 
going  west  and  says  it  is  impossible  to  make  money  here;  spent 
an  evening  at  Houde's,  there  were  six  young  men,  so  that 
three  of  them  were  obliged  to  "eat  oats"  as  the  French  girls 
call  it;  the  girls  told  our  fortunes  with  cards  and  always 
foretold  that  we  would  marry  a  girl  with  hair  and  eyes  of 
the  same  color  as  the  pretty  fortune  teller;  they  also  sang  songs 
mostly  of  a  tragic  or  sentimental  character.  Received  a  letter 
from  Richard  asking  us  to  rent  Sherman's  or  some  other  house 
close  to  our  lots.  "The  only  excitement  at  our  house  is  Flora's 
baby.  I  cannot  say  how  grateful  I  am  to  you  both  for  the  kind 
way  you  put  yourselves  out  to  have  us  comfortable.  There  is  a 
hitch  in  the  Soles  farm  which  we  intended  to  buy;  some  of  the 
cattle  having  the  foot  disease  and  she  wont  sell  the  place  with- 
out them.  When  I  go  out  your  way  I  intend  looking  about 
Melford.  I  have  finished  sending  out  father's  accounts  and  have 
not  much  to  do  now;  that  specimen  of  stone  found  on  your  land 
I  showed  to  a  mineralogist  who  pronounces  it  to  be  chlorite 
mixed  with  iron  pyrites  and  micca;  its  value  is  nil."  "Dear  Ar- 
thur yours  of  the  20th  inst.  received.  As  no  other  house  can  be 
had  I  think  Sherman's  will  be  the  best  as  it  is  the  largest;  you 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  69 

will  please  try  and  make  it  comfortable;  whatever  you  spend  I 
will  pay  you  when  I  go  out;  a  few  chairs  and  a  table  will  be  all 
we  will  need,  the  rest  we  will  bring  from  'Montreal.  You  might 
also  have  the  well  emptied  and  some  lime  put  in  it  if  it  is  not  all 
right;  Clifford  will  go  out  with  the  things  on  Saturday,  so  a  large 
sleigh  will  have  to  meet  him;  will  you  go  out  on  Monday  ? 
With  love  to  you  both  I  remain  your  affectionate  cousin,  Richard 
I,  Goldsmith."  W.  Charmicheal  ran  a  few  days  ago  with  ^20,000 
and  there  is  great  excitement  over  it.  22nd  finished  threshing 
our  grain,  154  bushels;  had  to  draw  one  half  of  the  threshing 
mill  to  the  next  place  he  was  going  to  thresh  at;  this  is  the  rule 
enforced  by  all  those  that  go  threshing  about  the  country;  put 
the  straw  back  again  into  the  barn  to  prevent  its  getting  wet. 
Charmicheal's  liabilities  are  over  ;$2oo,oco,  but  the  assets  chiefly 
in  real  estate  are  over  $400,000;  it  was  foolish  of  him  to  run  a- 
way;  his  wife  and  son  brought  him  back  from  Chicago;  he  says 
he  was  under  the  influence  of  intoxicants  when  he  ran  away. 
The  train  Richard  came  out  on  took  7  hours,  the  usual  time  is 
2^.  I  drew  wood  and  helped  Richard  next  day  to  fix  up  their 
room  in  6'herman's  house;  had  many  evenings  at  cards  with  our 
cousins;  the  French  games  at  cards  are  entirely  different  to  the 
English.  There  is  much  dissension  about  school  affairs,  some  of 
the  Aston  people  want  us  to  join  our  school  to  theirs  as  we  have 
only  a  few  scholars,  but  the  people  of  this  school  district  want 
to  hold  out  as  long  as  they  can.  Tom  and  I  had  a  dispute  about 
house  work;  Uncle  Herbert,  Daniel  Charmichael  and  the 
Reverend  L.  C.  Willoughby,  are  school  trustees.  At  a 
meeting  they  appointed  father  school  teacher  at  $12  a 
month;  he  will  only  have  his  two  Norfolk  home  boys 
to  teach;  the  school  is  to  be  kept  6  hours  a  day.  H.  Carmichael 
was  the  lowest  bidder  for  furnishing  the  school  wood  for  the 
small  sum  of  90  cents  a  month.  Feb.  ist.  The  weather  is 
neither  too  cold  nor  too  warm,  but  a  delightful,  invigorating 
atmosphere,  although  a  few  days  ago  the  thermometer  went  as 
low  as  16  degrees  below  zero;  last  evening  we  spent  at  Houde's, 
there  was  a  house  full  of  relations  and  friends,  the  married 
people  spent  the  evening  at  cards  and  gossip,  the  young  in 
making  love;  we  had  two  suppers,  the  last  one  at  2  o'clock,  con- 


yO  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

sisting  of  pork,  potatoes,  bread,  green  tea,  pies  and  maple  syrup. 
On  Sunday  dined  at  Rjchard's ;  gave  Ethel  a  book  as  a  New 
Year's  present;  sold  the  G's.  loo  bundles  of  straw,  also  some  to 
French  Canadians;  Houde  has  cheated  me  out  of  $2.t^Q  on  the 
contract  of  rails  I  made  with  him,  through  not  having  a  written 
agreement;  tried  to  persuade  father  and  uncle  H.  to  agree  about 
what  hours  he  would  teach  the  school;  father  begins  at  lO  and 
ends  at  4,  uncle  wants  him  to  teach  from  9  to  3;  I  suc- 
ceeded in  persuadmg  father  to  acquiesce.  On  Sunday  went  to 
church  and  dined  at  Meredith's;  could  not  wish  to  spend  a 
pleasanter  afternoon  and  evening  with  nicer  young  ladies  than 
Florence  and  Maud  Meredith,  in  fact,  ever  since  I  saw  Morencc, 
12  years  ago,  she  has  bee  my  beau  ideal  of  feminine  grace  and 
lovliness,  and  what  is  better  still  her  accomplishments  and  intel- 
ligence areas  great  as  her  physical  beauty.  Mrs.  M.  asked  me 
if  I  was  not  getting  tired  of  farming  in  the  backwoods;  said  I 
was  and  that  I  thought  ot  entering  the  English  army  next  spring, 
as  we  expected  my  uncle  to  come  from  England;  she  said  I  ought 
not  to  enter  the  army,  but  buy  some  farm  in  a  nice  location  and 
get  married  and  settle  down.  Florence  showed  me  50  valentines 
that  she  received;  played  checkers  with  Nicholas,  also  discussed 
Darwinism.  Read  in  the  papers  of  a  British  defeat  in  Africa  by 
the  Zulus,  500  British  officers  and  non  commissioned  officers  and 
1000  men  were  killed,  and  the  colors  of  the  24th  regiment  cap- 
tured; a  great  dishonor  to  British  arms  to  be  defeated  by  almost 
naked  savages;  the  campaign  in  Afghanistan  is  not  encouraging 
as  the  troops  suffer  from  the  severity  of  the  climate  and  want  of 
proper  accommodation;  Lord  B's.  government  had  better  make 
more  successful  arrangements  or  his  party  will  be  defeated  at 
the  general  election.  Spencer's  father,  his  wife,  two  sons  and  two 
daughters  have  moved  on  to  the  range  from  Bowansville;  he  was 
and  old  English  soldier  who  married  a  French  woman;  the  girls 
are  very  plain  brunettes.  The  Houde's  are  to  have  a  dance  on 
Monday  as  Lent  commences  next  day,  after  which 
there  will  be  no  flesh  eating  or  dances  for  forty  days. 
Sunday,  i6th  February.  Tom  is  22  years  old  to-day;  it  has 
snowed  for  the  last  5  days;  dined  at  Richard's,  conversed  on  pol- 
itics, religion,  agriculture  and  commerce;  I  ridiculed  that  part  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  /I 

the  Episcopal  catechism  where  the  godfather  has  to  renounce  the 
devil  and  all  his  works  for  his  godch  Id;  next  day  the  farmers  in 
our  vicinity  assembled  together  to  snowplovv  the  roads  with 
their  teams.  We  did  not  go  into  Montreal  this  quarter  on  account 
of  my  aunt's  illness,  so  uncle  sent  to  us  by  mail  the  quarter's  al- 
lowance At  present  we  are  drawing  lumber  from  the  mill  and 
finishing  the  inside  of  the  house;  2  5rd  breakfasted  at  Richard's; 
uncle  Richard  has  come  from  Montreal,  they  are  all  going  to 
Lampton  to  look  after  a  farm  for  Richard  and  Clifford;  they  all 
took  tea  with  us;  conversed  on  Orangeism  and  the  life  of  soldiers 
of  the  present  day;  uncle  read  a  chapter  of  scripture  and  prayers; 
next  evening  went  to  Preston  with  Daniel  C.  and  the  Houde 
girls  to  a  dance;  the  country  on  this  side  of  Preston  is  cleared 
and  the  wind  was  piercingly  cold;  Daniel  C.  unfortunately  upset 
his  sleigh  but  fortunately  none  of  the  girls  were  hurt;  the  master 
of  the  house  came  out  and  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome  and  con- 
ducted us  to  the  supper  room  where  we  partook  of  tea  and  pies 
and  then  went  to  the  room  where  the  dancing  was  going  on; 
some  of  the  dances  were  new  to  us  but  as  there  was  a  young 
man  to  call  them  out  we  made  no  breaks;  I  had  a  headache  and 
no  wonder,  the  room  was  so  hot  and  full  of  tobacco  smoke;  dur- 
ing intervals  between  the  dances  songs  were  sung,  some  of  which 
were  of  the  plus  ultra  Byronian  style;  slept  in  buffalo  robes  with 
many  other  young  men  in  the  dining  room.  I  find  that  father 
has  sent  some  of  our  dear  mothers  rings,  broaches,  &c.,  to  his 
relations;  told  him  not  to  give  away  any  more  as  we  wished  to 
have  them  preserved;  bought  some  brussels  carpet,  lace  curtains 
and  hearthrugs  from  him.  Received  a  letter  from  Clifford  saying 
that  Jiis  father  had  bought  a  farm  containing  200  acres  from  the 
Trust  and  Loan  Co.,  one  mile  from  Hartford  and  three  from 
Leamington;  there  is  a  nice  wood  on  the  farm  and  a  good  house 
surrounded  by  beautifully  hilly  country;  is  only  5^  miles  from 
the  city  of  Sherbrooke.  "We  are  all  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
kindness  to  us  while  at  Aston's,  I  think  it  improved  Richard's 
health;  we  will  go  on  the  farm  on  April  2,  your  affectionate 
cousin,  Clifford."  Tom  and  I  have  finished  the  house  ready  for 
lathing  and  plastering.  A  man  offered  father  20  lbs.  rent  for 
every  loo  troughs  in  his  sugar  bush  and  to  make   200  troughs 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

besides,  which  good  offer  he  foolishly  refused.  2nd  March,  lovely 
hay,  the  snow  is  thawing;  drew  2000  ft.  of  spruce  clapboards 
dome  which  cost  $6  a  1000  ft.  bought  /;ooo  laths  at  $1,  25 
cents  a  thousand,  and  lath  nails  at  five  and  a  half  cents  a 
pound.  Received  a  letter  from  uncle  Timothy  of  Waterford, 
informing  us  of  the  death  of  aunt  Maud,  to  whom  we  used  to 
write  in  our  younger  days;  she  was  an  old  maid.  Daniel  C.  and 
I  started  for  Melford  to  visit  friends  there,  met  a  drunken  French- 
man, who  stopped  our  horse  and  struck  it  on  the  head,  also  got 
a  blow  in  the  face  in  trying  to  pacify  him;  when  sober  he  is  a 
really  good  natured  fellow;  took  a  wrong  bush  road  and  to  our 
disgust  after  driving  3  miles  it  abruptly  ended  among  a  tangled 
mass  of  fallen  hemlock  trees;  there  are  so  many  roads  in  winter 
for  lumbering  purposes  that  it  puzzles  a  stranger;  nearing  Mel- 
ford there  is  some  of  the  nicest  scenery  in  the  Province;  maples 
and  evergreens  are  seen  along  the  roadsides  and  cosy  farm 
houses  surrounded  by  orchards.  On  arriving  at  Wakefield's, 
the  eldest  daughter  met  us  at  the  door  with  her  sisters, 
Sarah  and  Winifred;  they  are  very  sedate  and  religiously  in- 
clined girls  and  favored  us  with  sacred  music  during  the  evening; 
Daniel  scarcely  spoke  a  word  the  whole  evening,  I  expect  he  is 
bashful;  went  to  the  Scotch  church  the  next  day,  the  singing 
was  not  as  good  as  in  our  Episcopal  church  at  Aston;  I  never 
saw  so  many  plain  and  plainly  dressed  ladies  in  an  Englisn 
church  before;  the  sermon  went  to  prove  that  there  is  a  God 
from  the  evidences  of  his  works;  David  shocked  Mrs.  W,  by 
using  some  slang  expressions,  which  I  saw  by  the  expression  of 
her  face,  as  of  course  she  is  too  ladylike  to  take  marked  notice  of  | 
it;  had  a  quiet  tete  a-tete  on  past  events;  she  told  me  her  hus- 
band who  died  last  summer,  lost  1^9000  on  a  railroad  contract, 
that  the  railroad  was  now  in  bankruptcy,  but  that  eventually 
they  expected  to  get  the  money;  that  night  we  went  to  the 
Methodist  church,  very  fair  music  and  singing  and  the  congre- 
gation had  a  better  appearance  and  were  belter  dressed  than  that 
of  the  Scotch  church,  but  the  sermon  was  uninteresting.  A 
miner  at  the  slate  quarry  lost  |{ 1 200  by  hiding  it  m  the  mattresi^ 
of  abed,ofw^hich  his  wife  did  not  know  and  emptied  the  straw  in 
the  rood.     Daniel  C.  had  an  argument  with  his  sisters  about  th^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  73 

dlscipHue    of    the    militia,   which     his     sisters    criticised ;     he 
was     greatly    annoyeJ,     but     the     mother,    however,    stopped 
the  argument;    even   in   the   most    religiously    inclined   families 
brotherly  love  and  harmony  does  not  always  exist;  Daniel  and  I 
have  the    same    ideas  on    the   Chinese  question,  that   all    men 
should  be  allowed  to   come   to    tliis    country   as    long  as    they 
observed  the  country's  laws;   next  morning  took  a  pleasant  drive 
witli   the    girls    in    Wakefield's    double    sleigh;     wrote    in  their 
autograph    albums     which     seems     all    the    rage     with     many 
young   ladies    of  late;    In  returning  home  had   a  terrible  time 
of  it;      every     secoml     step     the     horse    took    it    sank    up    to 
its   knees    in    the    snow    which  is   thawing.      On  my  way  back 
heard    thund.;r   and     saw    flashes    of  lightning,  an   unusual  oc- 
currence at  this  tinij  of  year.     Wrote  to  Uncle  Jerrold;  went  to 
Meredith's  and  played   chess   with    Nicholas;  Florence   told  me 
that  Rev.  L.  E.  Willoughby  was  sold  out   for  debt,   but  that  his 
wife  bought  all  the  things  back;  it  is  certainly  a  disgraceful  state 
of  affairs  for  a  minister   of  Christ:  Mrs.  M.  told   me  of  several  of 
his  transactions  which  were   not  considered  strictly   honorable 
and  that  some  of  his  parishoners  talk  of  getting  another  minister 
in  his  place.     After  tea   had   an  evening  at  cards  and  music; 
Florence  sang  a  song  very   beautifully,  entiUed,  "love  me  little 
love  me  long;"  coffee  and  cake  were  passed  around  at  lo  o'clock; 
Nicholas  sang  some  comic   songs  and  Maud  played  several  nice 
duetts  with    Florence;  returned  home  at    12.     Went    next  day 
with  uncle  to  Doherty's  to  give  a  notice  from  Uncle  Richard  to 
pay  a  certain  amount  he  still  owed   on   the  bark.     Old  Doherty 
is  greatly  vexed  with  his  eldest  son  who  married  a  French  Prot- 
estant although    'ihe    has    now  turned    Catholic.     "March    ;6. 
Dear  To.n  and   Arthur.     Every   day  I  have  been   intending  to 
[Write  you  ever  since  my  return  but  only  now  succeed;  at  present 
jWe  are  very  busy   getting  ready  for  the  farm  as  we  have  to  buy 
[everything;  everything  now  is  very  cheap;   I    have  been  offered 
-I  new  Warrior  mower  and  an  Ithaca   horse  rake  for  ;$8o,  and  a 
econd  hand  mower  can   be  bought  for  $2$;  the  "Buckeye  steel 
jiorse  rakes  new  for  ^20.  a  sulky  plough   for  $t,o.     We  leave  for 
lartford  on  the  3rd,  taking  a  car  for  our   freight;  there  is  great 

xcitcment  in  .'■own  about  the  new  tariff  and  of  course  it  does  not 

10 


ff 
74  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

please  everybody,  there  is  one  thing  sure  and  that  is  that  it  will 
make  everything  dearer  than  at  present,  bread  must  go  up  as  they 
have  put  50  cents  a  barrel  on  flour;  all  grain  is  taxed  and  coal 
50  cents  a  ton;  this  will  effect  wood  in  some  districts;  you  will 
see  by  my  Uncle  Jerrold's  letter  that  I  enclose,  thinks  of  coming 
out  next  summer;  I  suppose  the  house  is  very  comfortable  now 
with  its  many  rooms;  the  house  on  our  farm  is  not  finished  out- 
side; we  are  going  to  have  it  bricked  and  a  veranda  put  up;  it  is 
very  well  finished  inside;  the  hardwood  woodwork  being  excel- 
lent; if  the  soil  is  as  good  as  the  buildings  the  place  will  do;  the 
barn  is  immense;  you  can  drive  nearly  to  the  top  of  it,  it  being 
against  a  hill,  with  love  I  remain  your  affectionate  cousin,  R.  1, 
Goldsmith."  "London  March  79.  My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur, 
I  received  your  nice  letters  and  long  account;  your  money  seenis 
a  great  deal  swallowed  up  in  labor  such  as  chopping  wood  and 
other  work  which  I  suppose  you  cannot  find  time  to  do  your- 
selves; Rupert .  ^.d  your  aunt  are  well  and  send  their  love  to  you; 
Rupert  came  up  from  Oxford  yesterday  during  vacation  until 
the  l6th  of  April  next,  when  he  returns.  The  weather  continues 
dreadful,  now  rain  and  hail  and  the  air  as  thick  as  pea  soup,  it  is 
truly  disagreeable,  I  should  be  glad  to  buy  land  but  wo  ild  be 
unwilling  to  keep  on  paying  taxes  for  land  that  I  could  neither 
use  or  employ,  however  if  you  hear  of  any  cheap  land  for  sale 
let  me  know,  although  times  may  be  hard  for  a  while  real  estate 
will  be  sure  to  treble  in  value  later  on;  stick  to  yours  and  thank 
God  you  are  not  in  a  pent  up  stifling  smoky  city  like  me,  but  in 
a  fine  free  open  air,  land  all  your  own  and  plenty  of  healthy  la- 
bor to  make  you  strong  and  sleep  sound  and  live  long;  may  you 
do  so  and  be  happy  is  the  prayer  of  your  loving  uncle  Jerrold  B. 
Goldsmith."  "Dear  Tom  and  Arthur.  We  have  decided  that 
the  best  place  to  buy  a  wagon  is  in  Aston,  please  enquire  the 
prices  for  us;  we  have  a  hired  man  and  wife  for  one  year;  we 
bought  a  big  Clyde  mare  for  ^55  and  a  good  set  of  double  har- 
nes  for  1^24,  with  love  your  affectionate  cousin,  Richard  I. 
Goldsmith."  I  talked  politics  with  uncle  H.;  he  is  a  conser- 
vative. 2 1st  March,  went  to  St.  David;  drove  as  far  as  Preston 
then  drove  up  the  Black  River  several  miles  on  the  ice,  then 
turned  off  southeast  on  a  main  road  or  range  that  was  12  miles 


HI3T0RV  OF  THE  FREXCH   IN  AMERICA.  j^$ 

lon^,  straight  as  a  crow  could  fly;  th^  houses  were  not  more  than 
two  acres  apart,  many  were  very  fine  buildings  of  stone;  it  looked 
like  a  long  straggling  village;   Daniel  who  was   with  me  got  off 
to  work;  our  horses  took  fright  at  something  and  ran  away  going 
full  gallop  for  two  miles  when  they  collided  against  a  load  of  hay 
and  broke  the  neck  yoke,  how  fortunate  they  struck  a  load  of 
liay,  if  it  had  been   of  wood  th  jy  would  have  been   seriously  in- 
jured; paid  50  cents  to  mend   neck  yoke.     The   lime  burner  had 
a  kiln    not  quite   finished   burning;  we   fed   our  horses,  bought 
some  bread  and  maple  sugar  and  waited;  on  returning  upset  our 
loid  in  crossing  the  Preston  River;  hid  to  pa;'  a  man  25  cents  to 
hel[)  us  to  load  it;  the  lime  of  St.  David  is  superior  to  that  of  St. 
Marie  for  fine  work;  returiied  home  at  2  o'clock.     It  seems  as  if 
Canada's  policy  of  protection  do:;s  not  meet  approbation  in  En- 
gland.    Rec  Mved  a  letter  from  Tritz  Mogarth,  he  has  returned  to 
England.     Nicholas  came  for  a  load  of  wood  invited  me  to  spend 
the    evening   at   their  place;    had   an    evening  at   cards;  Flor- 
ence   is   on  a  visit    at     Leniington    with    some    friends;    spent 
the    night    there;    the    Meredith's    live   very  plain    for  people 
of  their  means,  but  they  show  their  sense  as  too  much  pastry  is 
unhealthy;    Nicholas  lent   mj    a   history    of  Greece;  composed 
sentimental  verse  while  at  M's.     Sugar  making  operations  have 
commenced.      Bought  scantling  from  Guertin  for;^3.50  per  1000 
ft;  bought  a   single   wagon    for   Richard,  with  express  box,  two 
seats  cushioned,  also  a  double  tongue  to  hitch  on  a  span  as  well 
shafts  for  one  horse,  all  nicely  painted  and  first-class   workman- 
ship for  ;^43.      Went   to    Guernsey's;  the    girls  played   on  the 
organ,  which  music  I  do  not  care  for  outside  of  a  church.  Went 
to  the  Lentel  services  that  are  held  in  the  school-house  and  from 
there  to  McDougalls  and  played  checkers;    spent  next  evening 
at  G's,     Aunt   quizzed  me  eibout  Maud  and  Florence  Meredith; 
I    do  detest   the   low    habit   of  quizzing,  and  see  nothing  to  be 
ashamed  of  for  liking  the  society    of  sociable  and  refined  young 
ladies,   which    has   a   beneficial  and   elevating  influence  on  the 
rougher  nature  of  men.  The  ancient  Grecians  were  truly  a  noble 
people  and  would  put  to  shame  many   Christian  nations    of  the 
present  day   by  their  integrity,  courage  and   patriotism.     Mrs. 
Houde  told  me,  in  the  gravest  manner  possible,  a  story   of  a 


"j^  HISTORY  or  THE  French  in  America. 

young  girl  that  danced  the  same  day  she  took  the  Holy  Commu- 
nion, against  her  mother's  wish,  and  said  she  would  dance   even 
if  she    had   to   dance   with   the  devil  himself.     When  the  dance 
commenced  a  young  man  entered  handsomely  dressed  and  com- 
menced to  dance  with  her,  but  held  her  hand  so  tightly  that  she 
-screamed;  the  others  tried  to  free  her  hand   from   his   grasp  but 
could  not,  so  they  sent  for  a  priest,  who  by  applying  holy  water 
frightened  the  Devil  away,  but  in   going  away  ho  took  one  side 
of  the  house  with  him,  and  that  during  the   rest    of  her  life  the 
girl's  hand  was  marked  with  the    finger    nails    of   the  devil.     I 
smiled  and  said,  Mrs.  Iloude  do  you  not  think  that  the  persons 
who  related  it  to  you  exaggerated  ?  to  which  she  replied,  I  know 
they  did  not,  for   my   mother    and    several    of  my    uncles    were 
among  the  spectators,  and  are  good   honest  people   who   would 
not  lie  about  it.     I   told    them    that  it  might  have  occurred  in  a 
similar  manner  to  that   of   an  incident  in  Spain:     "A  priest  who 
told  a  young  man  that  the  devil  would  carry  away  the  oody  of 
his  father  from  its  grave  if  he  did  not  pay  for  masses  for  the   re- 
pose of  his  soul.     The  young   man   sat   up  with  a  shot-gun  and 
hid  himself  by  his  father's  grave,  and  when  something  appeared 
resembling  the  christian  idea  of  the  devil  he  fired  and   wounded, 
not  the  devil,  but  the  same  parish  priest."     April  3rd.  It  snowed 
and  blew  so  hard  all  day,  that  I  was   obliged  to  pass  the  day  in 
reading.     Went   to    Meredith's   in    the  evening,   several  young 
ladies  were  there;  had  music  and  singing;  the  younger  children 
played  philopcna.       After  tea  we  all   went  for  a  drive  by  moon- 
light in  a  double  sleigh;    there  w^as   Florence,  Maud,  Mabel  W., 
two  Miss  Weldon's.  whose  father  is  station  agent,  and  Nicholas 
and  myself.     Met  Richard  Ba    >n,  who  was  coming  to  get  Flor- 
ence  and   Maud  to   attend  the  practice  of  church  music,  they 
would  not,  however,  forgo  their  drive.     I    treated    the    party  to 
$2  worth  of  confectionery  and  fruit.     Stayed  over  night  at  Mere- 
dith's;   Florence   remonstrated   with   Nicholas   and    myself  for 
playing  chess  on  Sunday.     I   proposed  to   Mrs.  M.  to  have  a 
sugar  party  at  their  place  and  that   I   would  furnish  the  syrup, 
she  was  delighted  at  the  idea.      I  drove  Florence  to  church;  the 
music  and  singing  were  very  fine  but  the   sermon   uninteresting. 
During  the  Lental  services  I  attended  them    regularly.     April 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

loth,  a  lovely  d;iy;  the  sap  will  run  well  as  it  froze  last  night; 
borrowed  a  small  sugar  kettle  and  went  to  Meredith's;  Mabel 
VVilloughby,  Annie  VV^eldon  and  two  Miss  Grants  had  arrived. 
Nieholas  and  T  made  a  fire  outside  and  boiled  two  gallons  of 
syru[);  when  sufli  :iently  bo;lcd  we  poured  it  in  pans  full  of  snow 
and  |)assed  it  around;  after  having  a  niost  agreeable  time  we  ad- 
journed to  the  drawing-room  where  Mabel  \V.  ani  Florence 
favored  us  with  music  and  singing;  to  hear  the  powerful  and 
cultivated  voices  of  Mabel  and  Florence  is  a  rare  treat,  and  any 
one  tliat  does  not  enjoy  good  music  is  to  be  pitied.  Good  music 
I  think  has  a  most  elevating  influence  on  the  mind  of  man. 
After  tea  we  played  whist,  but  when  J'lorence  commenced  play- 
ing a  waltz  the  ladies  msisted  on  our  having  a  waltz  and  a  few 
quadrilles;  one  lady  had  to  take  the  part  of  gentleman  as  there 
was  only  Richard  ]^acor,  Nicholas  and  myself;  at  10  o'clock 
cake  and  cordial  was  passed  around;  Mr.  Meredith  is  a  staunch 
temperance  man  and  never  allows  wine  in  his  house;  I  drove 
Mabel  home.  0'^  Sunday  dined  at  Rev.  L.  C.  VVilioughby's;  his 
second  wife  is  a  very  kind  and  ladylike  woman.  I  feel  disgusted 
with  myself  for  the  many  precious  spare  moments  I  have  wasted 
of  late;  even  in  the  superior  society  of  Aston  English  people 
one  does  not  derive  much  advimtage  as  the  chief  part  of  their 
conversation  is  of  a  frivolous  nature  which  can  never  aid  a  man 
in  becoming  useful  and  great;  if  I  did  not  know  better  it  would 
not  be  so  bad,  but  I  love  and  wish  to  aid  and  maintain  every- 
thing that  is  good  and  true,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  I  have 
not  sufficient  stability  of  character  to  keep  me  in  the  path  of 
duty,  but  I  must  and  will  mark  out  for  myself  a  path  in  life  and 
adhere  to  it,  and  will  shun  and  denounce  everything  that  has  not 
an  elevating  effect  on  myself  and  the  rest  of  mankind.  On  Sun- 
day the  church  was  decorated  for  Easter;  some  of  my  "Aston 
acquaintances  quiz  me  about  the  Miss  Meredith's.  No  i;.true 
gentleman  would  stoop  to  such  low  vulgarity.  Read  in 
a  book  called  "Rome  as  it  is."  It  certainly  always  [^fills 
me  with  indignation  to  read  of  that  church  "that  declares  it  can- 
not  err  in  its  spiritual  instruction."  All  men  that  love  civilization, 
liberty  and  progress  should  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  over- 
throw this  and  all  other  churches  that  keep   men   in  the  worst 


yS  HISTORY  OF  the  French  in  America. 

form  of  spiritual  slavery.  Some  of  my  French  friends  have  often 
said  to  me  how  cin\  you  call  us  slaves  when  there  are  so  many 
clever  and  learned  men  in  our  church;  I  always  reply  it  is  [)ossi- 
ble  for  a  man  to  have  a  ^reai  intellect  and  be  a  i)r()tound  schol.ir 
in  most  branches  of  literature  and  science  and  at  tlie  same  time 
be  a  regular  fool  in  reli<^ion,  for  the  very  reason  that  he  has  been 
taught  from  early  infancy  that  it  is  a  "mortal  sin"  to  be«;in  to 
think  for  himself  or  doubt  some  of  the  absurd  doetrines  that  his 
spiritual  dictators  force  him  to  believe  on  pain  of  "eternal  dam- 
nation." Received  a  letter  from  uncle  Richard  saying  that  he 
■would  like  us  to  go  and  see  his  sons  soon  on  their  new  firm  and 
also  that  he  had  a  scheme  that  he  would  tell  us  of  Have  clap- 
boarded  our  house.  1 8th  April,  snow  is  disappearing  rapidly; 
went  to  a  sugaring  off  at  uncle  Herberts.  Wrote  to  Mills,  the 
deputy  inspector  of  schools  asking  his  advice  on  our  school  af- 
fairs. At  times  1  am  filled  with  a  desire  to  be  something  better 
than  a  bush  farmer  amongst  ignorant,  superstitious  iM-ench  Can- 
adians, and  that  there  are  less  opportunities  in  this  place  to  fit 
myself  for  a  higher  position  in  life  than  in  other  parts  of  the  con- 
tinent. Drew  manure  on  the  meadows.  Government  surveyors 
are  surveying  this  part  of  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  new  map.  Had  to  pay  Houde  ;^2.50  for  our  share  for  the 
work  he  did  in  keeping  the  roads  in  repair  this  winter,  as  we  did 
a  good  deal  of  shoveling  on  them  ourselves.  Tom  and  I  drew 
out  timber  to  make  a  veranda  on  3  sides  of  the  house;  hired  a 
man  to  help  us  for  3  weeks  for  $8  and  board.  On  Sunday  Tom, 
Daniel  C.  3  Houde  girls  and  myself  went  to  a  sugar  party  at 
Brodeurs;  in  the  evening  there  was  songs  and  conversation  that 
would  even  horrify  "such  a  bad  man  as  Col.  Ingersol,"  yet  the 
people  belong  to  the  devout  and  respectable  class  of  the  French 
Canadians  and  are  in  good  standing  in  the  Catholic  church,  yet 
were  their  conversation  to  be  repeated  in  any  Engiish  house  the 
offender  would  be  kicked  out;  to  me  it  seems  that  it  is  the  fault 
of  their  religion  and  not  that  of  the  people;  the  church  by  grant- 
ing absolution  at  stated  periods  makes  the  people  regard  sin  as 
almost  a  necessity  and  a  thing  impossible  to  avoid.  It  is  sick- 
ening to  me  to  see  people  regularly  confess  and  receive  absolu- 
tion and  partake  of  "God's  body"  while  their  lives  are  most  base 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  79 

and  woitMcss;  many  are  habitual  drunkards  and  of  as  low  a 
standard  of  manhood  as  one  could  imagine  and  still  arc  allowed 
to  remain  regular  members  of  the  church.  Hundreds  of  frogs 
are  croaking  in  a  njighboring  swamp  which  sounds  very  dreary, 
Rtjceived  a  letter  from  uncle  Richard  saying  that  they  were  very 
busy  buying  manure,  stock  and  implements.  Commenced  log- 
ging, which  is  very  hard  work.  Our  hired  men  seem  to  expect 
that  I  should  do  as  much  as  them,  so  I  have  to  work  pretty 
l\ard  to  keep  them  up  to  the  work,  in  fact  take  the  lead.  A  man 
man  offered  to  hire  for  a  year  at  $17$  '^'^^  board.  Engaged  Metz 
Vincent  foi  a  month  at  510.50.  The  oxen's  necks  are  swollen 
from  hard  work;  have  to  "chop  land"  till  they  are  better.  Had  a 
dispute  with  one  of  the  hired  men;  I  deducted  30  cents  for  two 
mo  nings  he  came  too  late,  for  which  he  exhausted  the  French 
and  English  language  in  oaths  and  bad  names.  I  have  given  up 
going  to  see  the  Houde  girls.  4th  May,  did  not  go  to  church  as 
1  felt  too  fatigued  after  a  hard  week's  work.  The  English  pros 
pects  in  the  Zulu  war  are  improved.  Hanian  the  Canadian  cham- 
pion rower  has  fine  prospects,  betting  4  to  i  on  him  against  the 
English  champion;  he  beat  the  American  champion  before  going 
to  England.  Every  evening  m  the  month  of  May  the  French 
go  and  pray  at  a  cross  in  the  centre  of  this  range;  it  is  called  "the 
month  of  Mary."  The  lovers  have  a  great  time  escorting  their 
sweethearts  to  the  cross  to  pray.  Daniel  C.  escorted  Alphosine 
Houde;  I  hardly  thought  he  would  degrade  himselt  with  such 
barbaric  superstition.  On  the  5th  there  xas  thunder  and  light- 
ning. 1  have  come  to  the  decision  that  the  greatest  hero  is  that 
man  who  can  maintain  an  unceasing  conflict  during  life  against 
error  in  all  its  forms;  this  form  of  heroism  is  greater  and  su- 
premely grander  than  the  reckless  courage  of  the  hero  that 
rushes  to  the  cannon's  mouth.  The  musquitoes  have  arrived  a 
few  days  ago.  Houde's  pigs  have  greatly  damaged  our  meadow 
by  rooting  it.  It  has  rained  for  the  last  two  days.  Metz  and  I 
were  trying  to  see  who  could  chop  the  fastest,  and  in  my  haste 
my  axe  struck  a  twig  and  swerved  out  of  its  course  and  descended 
on  my  instep  making  a  terrible  gash;  I  made  for  the  house  20 
acres  distant  as  fast  as  I  could,  jumping  over  logs  and  the  blood 
spurted  from  my  boot  every  step  I  took;  when  I   arrived  at  the 


So  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  A.MEKICA. 

house  I  felt  rather  weak  from  loss  of  blood;  bandaged  the  wound 
tightly  and  tied  a  handkerchief  very  ti^;htly  around  my  ankle 
and  sent  for  Dr.  Bacon;  he  says  I  have  cut  an  artery  whicii  he 
tied  with  some  silver  wire  and  then  sewed  up  the  wound  which 
is  4  inches  long.  It  was  not  as  painful  an  operation  as  I  had 
imagined  it  would  be.  It  is  re^Jy  too  bad  to  be  laid  up  thus  at 
the  busiest  season  of  the  year.  Read  in  "Rome  as  it  is;"  fiom 
what  I  have  read  of  this  church  and  the  effects  of  its  teachings 
on  the  French  Canadians  makes  me  look  on  it  merely  as  an  un- 
provement  on  Paganism;  the  book  truly  says  "Rome's  intolerance 
is  only  measured  by  its  power."  An  impartial  study  of  history 
clearly  shows  this;  but  although  its  power  is  fast  increasing  and 
it  is  making  mighty  efforts  to  retain  its  hold  on  the  minds  ot  men 
it  will  be  of  no  avail,  for  not  ioo,oO(^  churches  of  Rome  could 
arrest  the  grand  march  of  civilization,  for  as  the  ages  roll  on  men 
will  more  and  more  make  uso  of  clicir  reasoning  powers  by  which 
all  spiritual  serfdom  will  be  abolished,  and  the  nations  will  cease 
to  hate  and  persecute  each  other  on  account  of  nonsensical  doc- 
trines as  in  the  middle  ages;  for  all  men  will  be  in  honorable 
rivalry  in  trying  who  can  become  the  best  and  most  noble  people 
physically,  mentally  and  morally  by  a  perfect  study  of  the  laws 
by  which  a  Supreme  Creator  governs  the  human  race  and  our 
planet.  I  can  well  imagine  how  amused  the  more  enlightened 
men  of  future  ages  will  be  at  the  absurdity  of  their  semi  civilized 
ancestors,  each  trying  to  draw  a  picture  to  themselves  of  their 
God  and  the  unknown  hereafter  and  then  teach  their  innocent 
little  children  that  their  poor  neighbors  are  damned  because  their 
imaginary  picture  is  difterent  to  theirs.  Have  read  much  of  his- 
tory of  late,  among  others  that  of  Rome,  from  which  it  can  be 
seen  that  lust,  gluttony  and  inteuiperance  destroyed  one  of  the 
greatest  empires  of  our  earth.  In  some  ways  a  soldier's  life  has 
great  charms  for  me,  especially  I  think  in  a  conflict  for  a  just 
cause,  but  to  an  honorable  man  it  must  be  very  distasteful  to 
fight  for  his  country  when  it  has  undertaken  an  aggressive  and 
unjust  war.  The  Afghan  and  Zulu  wars  are  just  over;  the  ob- 
stacles oi  climate,  rugged  country  and  warlike  natives  are  at 
length  in  a  fair  prospect  of  being  overcome  by  the  prowe5s  of 
British  Arms;  Beaconsfield  and  his  policy  it  appears  are  grow- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  8 1 

ing  more  unpopular  with  the  British  people;  the  Socialists  are 
takinjT  very  desperate  means  to  try  and  gain  concessions  from 
some  of  the  European  Soverigns.  12th  May,  it  is  very  warm  to- 
day, the  atmosphere  is  clouded  with  smoke  caused  by  fires  made 
to  clear  land.  Protestantism  has  made  great  progress  in  Canada 
since  it  became  a  British  possession;  about  50  years  ago  Mon- 
treal was  almost  entirely  Catholic,  to-day  about  ^  of  its  inhab- 
itants are  Protestants,  and  most  of  the  chief  business  and  enterprise 
is  carried  on  by  them  which  is  a  most  remarkable  example  how 
liberty  and  education  triumph  over  ignorance  ar^d  superstition, 
and  so  it  is  with  every  country  in  the  world  whenever  Romanism 
has  all  to  itself  and  the  inhabitants  yield  unquestioning  obedience 
to  its  priests;  the  people  are  lower  in  the  scale  of  cultivation  than 
in  countries  where  Protesantism  and  Infidelity  exist;  the  fol- 
lowing countries  prove  the  truth  of  this;  Spain  was  once  one  of 
the  greatest  nations  of  the  earth  but  could  not  hold  its  power 
against  Protestant  England,  and  as  a  people  arc  truly  much  in- 
ferior than  the  English  heretics;  then  Italy,  the  very  center  of 
Catholicism  was  a  few  years  ago  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
countries  in  the  world  for  brigands,assassinations,vice  and  beggars 
as  W'U  as  for  the  ignorance  of  the  mass  of  the  population;  then 
aga  i  Mexico,  Brazil,  Chili  and  Peru  are  all  under  the  absolute 
spiritual  rule  of  Romanism,  and  compare  them  with  the  worst  of 
the  American  States  or  Provinces,  and  even  the  Romanist  him- 
self cannot  deny  the  great  superiority  of  the  Protestants,  although 
Brazil  has  ten  times  more  natural  advantages  than  most  of  the 
Protestant  American  States;  Romanism  can  of  course  boast  of 
some  great  and  noble  men,  but  these  men  were  great  and  good 
in  spite  of  the  degrading  influences  of  the  religion  they  believed 
in;  poor  Gallieo's  greatness  and  goodness  cannot  be  attributed 
to  Romanism  (his  church)  for  it  persecuted  him  to  death.  Pagan 
Rome  and  Greece  produced  some  of  the  greatest,  purest  and 
noblest  characters  of  the  earth;  yet  no  one  would  be  foolish 
enough  to  attribute  their  nobleness  to  the  diabolical  teachings  of 
their  priests.  It  is  perfect!)  plain  that  the  policy  of  Rome  is  to 
keep  the  masses  of  the  people  in  ignorance,  which  policy  they 
have  carried  out  in  all  those  countries  where  infidel  or  Protestant 

influence   is   not  felt  and  whose  inhabitants  have  not  had  the 

11 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

courage  to  rebel  against  priestly  tyranny  as  in  France;  see  what 
a  country  it  has  become  since  the  revolution;  a  great  part  of  its 
inhabitants  are  infidels,  but  how  much  superior  are  they  than 
the  poor,  devout,  priest-ridden  people  of  Spain.  Another  feature 
in  the  crafty  policy  of  Rome  is,  that  wherever  Protestants  or  in- 
fidels have  any  power  and  form  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
as  in  Great  Britain,  the  United  States  and  Canada,  they  establish 
their  own  schools  and  colleges  to  educate  the  children  spirit- 
ually as  well  as  secularly,  for  fear  the  Catholics  would  patronize 
the  national  schools  or  those  of  Protestants;  thus,  Catholics 
where  part  of  the  population  is  Protestant,  receive  a  sunerior 
education  than  in  those  countries  where  the  population  is 
entiiely  Catholic  and  where  the  priests  have  everything  their 
own  way.  I  predict  that  Italy  through  its  being  freed  from 
spiritual  thraldom,  will  quickly  lose  the  vice,  ignorance  and 
poverty  with  which  it  was  cursed  under  the  infallible  spiritual 
rule  of  the  Popes,  and  become  a  nobler,  wealthier,  happier  and 
more  powerful  people.  One  of  the  most  degrading  influences  of 
Romanism  is  the  confessional;  can  anything  be  more  disgusting 
than  to  have  a  chaste  and  innocent  young  lady  subjected  to  the 
impure  questions  that  ever}'  priest  is  obliged  to  ask  those  who 
confess  to  them.  I  could  give  hundreds  of  horrible  proofs  of 
its  degrading  influence  on  the  people  of  the  middle  ages,  and 
this,  too,  extracted  from  works  of  eminent  Catholic  authors  of 
good  standing  who  would  not  have  written  so  had  not  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  been  in  a  dreadful  stale,  but  I  cannot  for 
the  sake  of  decency  and  virtue.  I  would  suggest  to  all  impartial 
men  to  read  well  a  description  of  the  condition  of  Europe  in  the 
middle  ages,  when  Romanism  reigned  supreme,  and  compare  its 
degraded  state  to  the  more  civilized  state  of  the  whole  Christian 
and  Pagan  world  since  the  glorious  light  of  Luther's  reforma- 
tion dispelled  the  dark  clouds  of  superstition  that  darkened  the 
earth,  and  has  made  the  last  few  hundred  years  the  grandest 
epoch  in  our  earth's  history.  I  have  seen  in  the  Province  of 
Quebec,  hundreds  of  French  Canadians,  that  were  considered 
devout  Catholics  who  regularly  received  absolution  and  per- 
formed the  chief  duties  of  their  religion;  yet  such  was  the 
depravity  of  their  lives  that  some   of  the  meanest  infidels  have 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  S$ 

lived  nobler  and  purer  lives.  What  surprises  me  is  the  lov/ 
standard  of  character  generally  amongst  the  Catholics  of  this 
Province,  who  as  long  as  they  are  not  guilty  of  heinous  sins 
imagine  that  impure  conversation  and  indecent  jests  are  not 
wrong,  but  merely  "pour  rire,"  as  a  young  French  girl  once  said 
to  mj  when  I  used  condemnatory  language  on  an  indecent  re- 
mark a  young  man  had  made.  I  have  seen  numbers  of  them 
who  lived  ignoble  and  despicable  lives,  at  the  hour  of  death  con- 
fess, receive  absolution  and  partake  of  their  "bread  god"  and  in 
two  instances  recover  contrary  to  expectation  and  lived  the  same 
sinful  and  worthless  lives  they  had  done  before  their  illness ;  yet 
these  same  men  were  allowed  to  remain  members  of  the  church 
and  partake  of  the  "holy  sacrament,"  which  most  Christians  be- 
lieve if  taken  unworthily  "is  taken  to  a  man'i  damnation." 
Romanism  also  has  been  guilty  of  persecutions  that  have  been  so 
cruel  that  even  "devils"  would  be  ashamed  to  acknowledge  them; 
and  some  of  these  diabolical,  persecutions  have  received  the 
approbation  of  the  Popes.  Romamst  apoligists  assert  that  Pro- 
testants have  been  guilty  of  persecution,  but  this  does  not 
palliate  their  atrocities.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that 
Romanism  persecuted  men  for  a  contrary  belief  long  before  the 
first  dawn  of  the  light  of  the  reformati(.'n  began  to  appear  on  the 
earth,  and  therefore  as  the  infallible  church  set  a  bad  example 
to  the  rest  of  mankind.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the 
early  Protestants  had  great  provocation.  If  Queen  Elizabeth  did 
persecute  the  Catholics  she  was  first  set  the  example  by  her 
bigoted  and  cruel  predecessor.  Queen  Mary.  It  should  also  be 
remembered  that  English  Protestantism  was  weak,  and  numerous 
plots  were  being  made  for  its  overthrow  and  that  some  of  the 
harsh  laws  that  were  made  were  really  justifiable.from  the  fact"that 
self  preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,"  and  Cromwell,  if  he 
did  persecute  the  Irish,  had  great  aggravatton  for  doing  so.  His 
co-religionists  had  been  atrociously  murdered  with  the  expressed 
approval  of  the  head  of  the  church  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus. 
But  the  great  difference  between  the  two  religions  is  that  the 
Protestants  almost  universally  are  ashamed  and  lament  of  the 
persecutions  their  ancestors  committed,  while  many  of  the  Ro- 
manists glory  in  some  of  their  persecutions   and  with  lies  and 


^4  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

quibbles  deny  others,  attributing  it  to  political  animosity  etc. 
It  is  however  an  acknowledg>ed  f^ict  that  there  still  exists  at  Rome 
a  medal  in  commemoration  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
Now  supposing  this  massacre  was  done  for  political  motives  by 
Frenchmen,  when  the  infallible  popes  found  out  their  mistake 
why  did  they  not  destroy  the  medal  instead  of  preserving  it, 
but  even  in  this  enlightened  age  many  of  its  followers  in  different 
parts  of  the  world  persecute  Bible  sellers  and  Protestant  teachers 
in  various  ways,  but  dare  not  take  their  lives  for  fear  of  arousing 
the  indignation  ot  the  Protestant  world;  but  men  and  priests  that 
would  cruelly  beat  Bible  sellers  as  they  have  done  in  Austria 
and  Spain  would  burn  them  if  they  had  the  power  to  do  so.  I 
was  pleased  to  see  however  that  the  American  board  of  Foreign 
missions  have  been  trying  to  obtain  complete  religious  liberty 
for  missionaries  in  Spain  and  Austria.  It  is  a  terrible  condition  of 
affairs  to  have  a  Protestant  traveller  fined  and  imprisoned  in  Spain 
in  '82  because  he  could  not  consientiously  takeoff  his  hat  and  kneel 
in  adoration  to  a  God  of  bread.  Any  church  that  would  tolerate 
the  Inquisition  and  not  reprimand! its  members  for  such  diabol- 
ical cruelty  cannot  of  a  certainty  be  inspired  of  God;  a  church 
that  would  allow  members  in  good  standing  to  use  thumb  screws 
to  tear  men  limb  from  limb  and  burn  them  at  tlie  stake,  with- 
out a  word  of  condemnatiou,  deserves  the  hatred  and  contempt 
of  all  civilized  men.  Yet  this  church  declares  that  its  spiritual 
teachings  have  always  been  infallible — and  has  the  barefaced 
impudence  to  say  that  Luther's  was  a  disastrous  revolution. 
The  only  way  I  can  account  for  clever  and  good  men  believing 
in  this  and  other  religious  frauds  is  as  I  have  before  stated  that 
although  they  are  wise  and  learned  in  all  tranches  of  literature 
and  science  they  are  childish  fools  in  religion,  having  never  been 
allowed  by  their  spiritual  tyrants  to  harbor  doubts  or  reason  to 
themselves  as  to  whether  this  revealed  rehVion  is  reallv  true  or 
not.  I  have  no  ill  feeling  against  the  most  devout  of  Romanists, 
Protestants  or  Mohammedans;  it  is  only  against  those  religious- 
frauds  and  imposters  who  for  lust  of  geld  and  power  try  to  keep 
the  inhabitants  of  this  earth  in  a  state  of  spiritual  slavery. 
Amongst  Protestant  Clergymen  however  I  must  say  I  have  met 
with  many  noble,  generous-hearted  men  who  Jiave  devoted  their 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  ^5 

lives  to  the  glorious  work  of  elevating  their  fellow  men  by  teach- 
ing chiefly  the  beautiful  and  grand  moral  laws  and  precepts  of 
that  great  moral  teacher,  Christ.  Among  the  Catholic  Priesthood 
such  noble  men  also  exist,  but  I  have  never  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  one  for  they  are  n)uch  scarcer  than  among  Protestant 
Clergymen  on  account  of  the  more  rigid  ecclesiastical  training 
and  tyranny  they  have  to  undergo,  which  in  most  cases  dwarfs 
and  contorts  the  better  sentiments  of  their  nature,  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  as  the  peo[)le  are  under  the  priests  so  the 
priests  are  under  the  bishops  and  so  on  till  all  is  concentrated 
under  the  one  man  and  spiritual  despot,  the  Pope.  How  hu- 
miliating for  a  priest  of  intelligence  to  think  I  cannot  use  my 
reason  on  religion  or  in  any  way  use  the  gifts  God  has  endowed 
rne  with  but  must  without  questions  or  doubts  teach  and  preach 
according  to  the  ideas  and  wishes  of  my  tyrannical  superiors, 
and  even  in  fact  in  many  of  the  church  superior  sects  is  this  in- 
tolerant spirit  also  shown,  and  the  momeirt  a  clergyman  begins 
to  use  his  reason  on  religion  and  deny  the  truth  of  some  of  the 
absurd  doctrines  concocted  in  the  superstitious  brains  of  the  bar- 
barians of  former  ages,  he  is  excommunicated  and  driven  from 
tiie  sect  to  which  he  belongs  How  very  despotic  for  most  of 
the  Christian  Churches  to  form  councils,  such  as  the  council  of 
Trent  etc.,  consisting  of  narrow  minded  ecclesiastics,  who  set 
themselves  up  as  the  spiritual  dictators  of  the  rest  of  mankind 
and  promulgate  doctrines  according  to  their  fancy  and  then  take 
away  from  their  fellowmen  the  God-given  privilege  of  freedom 
of  thought,  and  with  lying  threats  of  "eternal  damnation"  on  pain 
of  disbelief  force  the  majority  of  mankind  to  accept  their  ideas 
as  inspired  of  God,  in  fact  in  the  middle  ages  the  spiritual  tyrants 
were  not  satisfied  with  condemning  (those  who  refused  to  be 
slaves)  to  torment  in  the  future  world,  but  must  roast  to  death, 
all  men  who  had  the  courage  to  think  and  speak  for  themselves, 
but  as  the  years  rolled  on  great  and  noble  men  by  a  proper  use 
of  the  reason  God  endowed  them  with  saw  the  unjust  wicked- 
ness of  such  despotism  and  through  their  efforts  and  the  im- 
proved religion  of  Protestantism,  the  Christian  councils  no  lon- 
ger roast  men  alive;  they  only  condemn  them  to  eternal 
[)unishment  in    a    future    world    for    the   terrible   crime    of  not 


86  HISTORY  CF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

submitting  to  their  decrees,  which  were  only  the  thoughts  and 
ideas  of  the  minds  of  finite  fellovvmen;  yet  the  brazen-faced  apol- 
ogists of  Romanism  have  the  audacity  to  declare  that  their 
religion  is,  was,  and  always  will  be  unchangeable,  if  so  why  do 
they  not  try  and  roast  iheir  enemies  now  as  formerly,  or  sup- 
posing for  instance  a  party  of  Catholics  were  to  commit  such 
an  atrocity  would  not  the  Pope  immediately  excomniuaicate 
them?  Of  course  he  would,  then  if  an  unchangeable  church 
why  did  he  not  excommunicate  or  at  least  reprove  the  villains 
who  committed  such  atrocities  in  the  middle  ages.  The  reason 
is  plainly  this,  then  the  Popes  power  was  almost  unquestioned 
and  supreme,  to-day  it  is  endangered  by  Protestantism  and  civ- 
ilization, and  in  this  enlightened  age  were  they  to  encourage  or 
tolerate  such  barba-'ity  100,000.000  hearts  and  hands  would  be 
united  for  his  overthrow;  yet  even  in  this  enlightened  age  much 
bitter  and  cruel  persecution  still  exists,  several  cases  of  which  I 
have  myself  personally  witnessed;  one  case  especially,  that  of  a 
relative  of  mine,  a  perfect  gentleman  and  a  throughly  moral  and 
good  man  who  moved  in  good  society;  till  that  moment  he  had 
the  moral  courage  to  express  his  unbelief  in  some  doctrines  that 
appeared  to  him  absurd  and  improbable,  from  that  moment  the 
circle  of  society  and  friends  he  had  moved  in  thrust  him  out  of 
it  as  if  he  were  a  viper,  and  even  one  of  his  uncles  told  him  that 
he  did  not  wish  to  have  any  one  visit  his  house  who  doubted  the 
essential  doctrines  of  Christianity,  but  such  bigoted  injustice  and 
cruelty  although  it  may  frighten  and  prevent  some  men  from 
using  the  reasoning  powers  God  gave  them  cannot,  and  never 
will,  arrest  the  progre  j  of  men's  enlightenment,  for  in  all  ages 
of  the  world  ve  courageous  and  conscientious  men  existed 
who  would  bravely  face  the  persecutions  and  contempt  of  the 
ecclesiastical  world,  rather  than  fall  out  of  the  ranks  of  that  no- 
ble little  band  of  workers  who  have  ever  claimed  the  right  and 
privilege  of  men  for  the  pefect  use  of  their  reasoning  powers  on 
all  things  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal,  and  have  ever  resisted 
those  tyrannical  Christian  councils  who  usurp  to  themselves 
privileges  that  God  h;.s  given  to  all  mankind.  Fellow-citizens 
of  this  great  and  enlightened  age  let  it  not  be  said  in  future  ages 
to  the  eternal  dishonor  of  this  age  that  its  best  society  did  refuse  F 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  $7 

to  admit  men  in  its  midst  because  they  boldly  claimed  the  right 
of  enslaved  humanity  to  think  and  reason  for  itself.  In  my 
opinion  however  this  little  band  of  workers  will,  as  they  increase, 
form  a  select  society  of  themselves  that  will  extend  the  hand  of 
fellowship  to  every  fellow  man  rich  or  poor,  as  long  as  he  has 
done  and  is  doing  his  level  best  to  attain  to  the  highest  possible 
state  of  manhood  and  will  not  close  its  doors  on  such  and  for  a 
slight  differance  of  belief  or  wealth  as  the  Christian  society  of 
the  present  day  has  done  to  its  eternal  dishonor,  but  will  of  a 
certainty  refuse  to  tolerate  in  its  midst  all  men  who  advocate 
the  right  of  any  body  or  class  of  men  to  become  the  spiritual 
dictators  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  Many  Sectarians  have  often 
sneeringiy  remarked  to  me,  what  have  you  "unbelievers"  done 
for  humanity,  you  do  not  build  hospitals  or  schools,  to  which  I 
reply,  how  could  we?  We  do  not  yet  exist  in  suthcient  num- 
bers, besides  we  do  not  believe  in  having  schools  or  hospitals 
for  any  special  class  or  body  of  men,  we  believe  that  all  men 
should  act  not  as  if  they  were  some  distinct  race,  separated  from 
the  rest  of  mankind,  but  as  if  they  belonged  to  one  grand 
brotherhood,  created  by  one  God  and  actuated  with  a  generous 
rivalry  to  see  which  can  make  the  best  study  of  his  unchangeable 
laws  and  become  the  most  perfect  beings  of  his  creation,  and 
.therefore  we  liberally  aid  all  good  and  charitable  institutions 
organized  by  Christians  but  at  the  same  time  are  doing  all  in 
our  pc\  er  to  remove  their  most  objectionable  features  and 
unite  them  all  in  the  grand  work  of  healing  and  educating  all 
[diseased  and  ignorant  fellow-men  regardless  of  creed  or  color. 
Our  aim  is  not  to  become  some  distinct  class  or  sect,  but  to  pre- 
[serve  all  the  good  moral  laws  and  precepts  of  all  religions  that 
hundreds  of  years  of  experience   has  shown  to   be   useful  and 

)eneficial  to  mankind,  and  which  are  not  the  result  of  any  special 
revelation  to  man  as  all  religious  theologians  assert,  but  merely 
from  a  proper  use  of  the  glorious  God-given  gift  of  man's  in- 
tellect in  the  study  of  the  unchangeable  laws  of  nature.  For 
Instance,  I  ask  the  intelligent  reader  does  he  think  God  would 

:ndow  men  with  intellect  reason  and  a  discerning  spirit  and 
jnake  such   revelations  or   special  commands  as  "thou   shalt  not 

:ill,"  and  a  hundred  other  laws  winch  the  gifts  he  endowed  man 


S8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

with  were  capable  of  discerning  without  any  revelation;  a  proof 
of  this  is  seen  in  many  of  the  barbarous  and  detestable  laws  of 
marriage,  etc.,  said  to  have  been  specially  revealed  by  God  to 
Moses,  which  are  far  inferior  to  the  more  beautiful  and  just  laws 
made  at  the  present  day  by  civilized  and  humane  men.  Is  it  pos- 
sibU*  that  God  would  reveal  laws  that  are  considered  barbarous 
and  cruel  by  the  civilized  portion  of  mankind  of  the  present  day. 
I  think  the  reader  will  agree  that  they  were  merely  created  by 
j^ome  semi  civilized  philosopher  and  palmed  off  by  him  on  a 
Semi-barbarous  people  as  a  special  revelation  from  God.  All  we 
wish  to  do  is  to  purge  all  religions  of  the  supernatural  absurdi- 
ties with  which  they  are  cursed;  and  to  convince  Mohammedans 
that  dancing  like  mad  men  does  not  tend  to  God's  glory  or  the 
good  of  mankind;  and  to  the  Roman  Catholics  that  the  glorious 
light  of  science  and  useful  knowledge  shining  amongst  men  is 
more  pleasing  to  a  Supreme  power  than  the  light  of  100,000,000 
wax  candles;  to  the  Jews  that  God  has  never  been  so  brutal  as 
to  take  pleasure  in  the  blood  of  lambs  and  turtle  doves,  and  that 
the  incense  of  a  beantiful  and  noble  life  is  sweeter  to  God  than  all 
the  sweetest  incense  of  the  earth  combined;  and  to  the  Protest- 
ants that  God  takes  no  pleasure  in  a  man  casting  himself  on  the 
earth  in  abject  humility  crying/'vile !  vile !  unclean  am  I !"  But  that 
all  God  requires  vof  man  is  that  he  should  make  a  proper  use  of  the 
God-like  attributes  that  he  has  given  him  and  become  the  grand- 
est being  of  all  creation  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  his  duties 
towards  himself  and  the  rest  of  mankind.  This  class  of  "free 
thinkers"  should  not  be  confounded  with  apostate  or  bad  men 
of  all  religions  who  leave  the  sects  to  which  they  belong  merely 
because  they  cannot  live  up  to  some  of  the  good  moral  laws  and 
precepts  that  are  taught.  This,  however,  I  regret  to  say  is  gen- 
erally the  case,  and  all  bad  men  who  do  not  belong  to 
some  religion  are  unjustly  classed  as  freethinkers.  It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  this  is  unjust,  for  the  true  infidel 
or  free  thinker  is  one  who  after  he  has  exercised  his  judgment  or 
reason  on  the  so  called  truths  of  supernatural  religion,  cannot 
believe  them  and  of  necessity  must  reject  and  expose  what  he 
conscientiously  believes  are  errors  and  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  humanity;  yet  I  have  heard  a  narrow  minded  christian  remark 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  S^ 

that  he  would  prefer  introducing^  a  Turk  into  his  family  than  an 
infidel.  The  same  spirit  is  exhibited  in  the  education  ot  the  chil- 
dren of  Chrisiians,  tlieir  minds  are  so  prejudiced  aj^ainst  infidel 
books  that  the  average  Christian  lays  one  down  with  holy  horror 
on  seeing  its  title,  and  I  actually  saw  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop 
who  ordered  his  spiritual  slaves  to  cease  taking  a  x:ertain  news- 
paper bjcause  it  published  articles  criticising  the  Catholic 
Church.  Truly  the  Catholics  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  must 
have  very  little  manhood  left  to  allow  their  priesthood  to  dictate 
to  them  what  newspapers  they  shall  read;  surely  if  human  be- 
ings, after  attaining  manhood  and  womanhood,  are  responsible 
bemgs,  they  have  a  right-  to  use  their  own  judgment  as  to  what 
they  read;  I  must  say  1  have  been  greatly  surprised  with  the 
agreeable  contrast  of  the  religious  freedom  and  liberty  of  the 
members  of  the  Mormon  Church,  who  buy  and  read  what  litera- 
ture they  choose;  I  have  even  seen  in  the  houses  of  good 
Mormons,  the  Tribune,  a  newspaper  that  never  loses  an  oppor- 
tunity of  ridiculing  and  bringing  into  contempt  the  doctrins  of 
their  religion;  were  the  Tribune  to  publish  such  bitter  articles  in 
iiie  i'lovmce  of  Quebec,  I  am  confident  its  establishment  would 
be  attacked  in  24  hours  time,  for  I  myself  have  witnessed  a  sight 
I  shall  never  forget,  in  a  Trench  Canadian  store,  that  of  a  mob 
who  attacked  a  Bible  seller  and  robbed  him  of  his  Bibles,  which 
they  burned;  I  may  also  draw  two  other  remarkably  favorable 
contrasts  for  this  much  persecuted  people.  The  head  of  their 
church  allowed  a  Gentile  Minister  to  preach  against  the  Mormon 
Church  in  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Mormons;  this,  for  liberality, 
has  never  been  excelled  in  ecclesiastical  history;  also  that  of 
apostate  Mormons,  lecturing  and  denouncing  the  religion  they 
once  professed,  without  their  lives  being  endangered  or  even  a 
single  threat  uttered  against  them.  When  I  compare  their 
christian  toleration  and  patience  with  the  intolerance  and  blood 
thirsty  conduct  of  the  Catholics  in  the  Province  of  Quebec  I  can- 
not help  thinking  how  absurd  it  is  for  the  Catholic  Church  to 
have  the  cheek  to  come  to  Utah  to  try  and  convert  a  people 
who  are  in  every  respect  superior  to  themselves.  Mem- 
bers   of      this    same    infallible    church     in    the    Province    of 

Quebec  mobbed   a  hall   where   Father   Chiniguy,  a   reformed 

12 


90  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

priest,  was  lecturing  against  the  errors  of  Romanism,  in  Aston 
village,  and  were  it  not  that  a  few  Protestants  including  myself 
stood  at  the  door  with  loaded  revolvers  I  have  not  the  slighest 
doubt  that  Father  Chiniguy's  name  would  have  been  added  to 
the  long  roll  of  names  of  the  noble  martyrs  that  have  been  mur- 
dered through  the  diabolical  teachings  of  Romanism.  Also 
when  Father  Gavazzi,  a  reformed  Italian  priest,  lectured  in  Mon- 
treal, a  youth  15  years  of  age  died  of  the  wounds  he  received  in  a 
Catholic  riot  that  occurred,  he  was  a  brother  of  the  dearest  friend 
I  ever  had.  Under  the  circumstances  I  do  not  think  the  reader 
will  blame  me  for  entertaining  a  most  profound  contempt  (not 
for  individual  Catholics)  but  for  the  religion  itself,  which  is 
working  quietly  and  energetically  with  one  aim  and  object  in 
view,  that  of  bringing  all  mankind  under  its  rule.  Imagine  what 
a  condition  the  world  would  be  in  with  a  Pope  and  his  few 
chosen  counsellors  as  the  spiritual  dictators  of  the  world.  Does 
not  the  reader  think  that  with  such  blasphemous  power  in  their 
hands  and  without  any  power  to  resist  them  that  they  would  not 
hesitate  to  severely  punish  all  men  who  ridiculed  and  rebelled 
against  their  decrees.  Truly  this  world  would  be  in  a  pitiable 
condition  if  Protestantism  and  all  the  glorious  work  it  has 
accomplished  was  blotted  out.  Catholic  apologists  often  say  : 
"Does  not  religious  liberty  exist  in  most  Catholic  countries  of  the 
present  day."  But  intimate  association  with  good  Catholics 
proves  that  full  and  complete  religious  liberty  is  not  given  to 
any  Catholic  now  in  existence;  nor  in  the  whole  history  of  their 
church  can  it  be  found  that  religious  liberty  was  granted  to 
them.  It  is  true,  however,  that  most  Catholics  can  if  they  wish 
think  as  they  please  at  the  present  day  and  use  their  reason  on 
the  doctrines  of  their  church,  but  the  reader  well  knows  that  if 
they  do  so  they  can  no  longer  remain  members  of  that  church, 
but  are  expelled  as  heretics  and  rebels  against  the  spiritual 
oligarchical  government  which  that  church  lying  asserts  that 
Christ,  the  great  philanthropist  and  moral  teacher,  established 
on  earth,  I  would  also  ask  some  of  these  Catholic  apologists 
how  they  account  for  the  remarkable  fact  that  Catholicism  and 
its  followers  rigorously  punished,  in  the  most  barbarous  manner, 
all  heretics  during  the   middle  ages,  and  that  they  have  only 


I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  9I 

ceased  their  brutality  and  cruelty  during  the  past  few  hundred 
years  since  Protestantism  and  infidelity  have  become  so  power- 
ful. I  also  ask  the  impartial  reader  how  can  he  account  for  the 
world  of  the  present  day  being  so  much  more  civilized  and  im- 
proved thnn  it  was  in  the  middle  ages,  when  Catholicism  reigned 
supreme  over  what  was  then  considered  as  the  civilized  world, 
and  at  the  same  time  assert  "that  Protestants,  Heretics  and  Infi- 
dels are  wicked  and  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  mankind," 
whjn  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  have  accomplished  most  of 
these  improvements  and  have  a  greater  power  and  influence 
than  heretics  ever  had  before  during  our  earth's  existence.  It  is 
quite  clear  that  the  oligarchical  form  of  spiritual  government  of 
Catholicism  is  antagonistic  and  not  in  harmony  with  the  true 
s{)irit  of  all  forms  of  republican  governments,  and  better  suited 
tor  the  more  uncivilizcrd  one  man  form  of  government  of  empires 
and  kingdoms,  for  the  reason  that  Catholicism  elevates  the 
church  above  the  state,  and  all  good  Catholics  are  taught  that 
they  owe  their  first  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  whom  they  re- 
gard as  Vicegerent  of  God.  Now  supposing  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  this  enlightened  country  at  any  time  thought  proper  to 
enact  a  law  that  was  considered  by  the  Pope  as  prejudicial  to 
the  interests  of  Catholicism,  but  which  the  Government  thought 
necessary  for  the  interests  of  a  republican  form  of  government 
and  the  production  of  truly  liberal  and  enlightened  citizens. 
Would  not  all  "good  Catholics"  disregard  the  Government's 
wishes,  and  at  the  command  of  the  spiritual  king  of  mankind 
do  all  in  their  power  to  resist  and  defeat  that  law.  so  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  votes  of  the  nation  would  be  given  according  to 
the  dictation  of  a  foreign  power  that  maintains  the  interests  of 
Catholicism  regardless  of  all  others.  Free  thinkers  and  reform- 
ers as  a  class  should  maintain  an  unceasing  conflict,  not  only 
against  all  religious  errors,  but  against  all  the  forms  of  error 
with  which  this  earth  is  cursed,  and  prove  to  the  world  that 
nothing  is  gained  by  the  mere  performance  of  silly  rites  and 
ceremonies,  and  teach  to  all  mankind  that  grand  truth,  "that  the 
earth  is  their  country  and  to  do  good  is  their  religion."  Tom 
sowed  12  bushels  of  potatoes  to  day.  Ine  grass  is  growing  fast 
and  the  woodlands  getting   green.      This  dry  weather  we  are 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH    IN  AMERICA. 

having  is  very  favorable  for  burnin<^  timber  on  the  land.  Whilj 
I  was  laying  on  the  veranda  with  my  disabled  foot  I  was  struck 
with  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  around  our  place.  To  the  south  lay 
the  dark-green  primeval  forest  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  brok- 
en here  and  there  by  a  village  with  its  tin-covered  steeple  glitter- 
ing in  the  sun,  also  several  mountains  towering  high  above  the 
solitude  of  the  forest,  till  their  summits  were  lost  in  the  clouds. 
In  the  east  the  view  extends  down  a  grass-covered  hill,  side  to  a 
babbling,  winding  brook,  across  a  valley  with  numerous  beauti- 
ful, evergreen  and  stately  hardwood  trees  and  up  another  hillside 
till  the  view  ends  abruptly  at  the  top  of  a  hill  in  Sherman's 
clearance  with  our  cattle  grazing  in  it.  In  the  north  the  view 
extends  4  miles  across  an  almost  unbroken  forest;  the  chief  object 
on  the  north  is  the  "Beaver  Meadows,"  through  which  the  brook 
meanders  through  a  stately  grove  of  elms  whose  shade  keeps  the 
carpet  of  wild  grass  beneath  them  of  the  brightest  green.  As  I 
watched  the  water  foaming  over  the  numerous  rapids  it  remind- 
ed me  of  the  life  of  man,  every  part  of  earth  the  water  rushed 
over  was  passed  forever,  there  was  no  turning  back,  on  it  rushes 
till  it  reaches  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  And  so  with  man,  his  life 
glides  swiftly  onward,  there  is  no  recalling  a  day,  an  hour,  a 
minute  once  passed  it  is  passed  for  ever;  on  it  rushes  until  he 
is  hurled  into  that  mighty  ocean  of  an  unknown  hereafter.  In 
the  east  the  view  is  obstructed  by  forest,  in  the  hillside  in 
close  proximity  to  the  house.  In  reading  ancient  history  it 
appears  to  me  that  vice  and  intemperance  were  the  sources  of  the 
distruction  of  ancient  nations.  Those  of  the  present  day  ought 
to  take  warning  of  the  danger  of  allowing  vice  and  intemperance 
to  exist  where  temperance  and  virtue  ought  to  reign.  It  is  the 
duty  of  mankind  of  this  age  to  use  its  utmost  endeavors  to  trans- 
mit to  the  coming  age  a  grander  civilization  and  a  nobler  race  of 
people  than  that  which  our  ancestors  have  transmitted  to  us.  It 
is  truly  very  sad  to  see  such  terrible  deterioration  as  that  of  such 
a  noble  race  as  the  ancient  Greeks  to  their  present  low  condition 
in  the  scale  of  humanity.  No  man  can  imagine  what  exalted 
and  much  nobler  beings  we  would  now  be  had  all  our  ancestors 
from  the  earliest  ages  used  all  the  means  in  their  power  to  de- 
velop and  improve  mankind.       The  day,  however,  will  yet  come 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  93 

when  just  and  wise  laws  will  be  ma'ie  to  punish  and  prevent 
everything  that  has  a  deteriorating  influence  on  the  human  race 
and  rewards  given  to  all  those  who  materially  aid  the  grand 
work  of  developing  and  educating  the  huin:;in  race  to  the  high- 
est possible  standard  of  excellence.  15th  May.  The  piece  of 
oats  by  the  house  is  coining  overground.  I  put  some  leaves  of 
the  wild  cucumber  that  a  French  quack  doctor  gave  me  on  the 
wound  on  my  foot.  Tom  drove  one  of  the  Houde  girls  to  Aston 
which  is  very  foolish;  I  would  consider  it  a  disgrace  to  be  seen 
in  public  with  a  vulgar  girl  like  her;  a  gentleman  cannot  expect 
refined  laoies  to  like  his  company  when  he  associates  with  such 
society.  The  bare  and  desolate  forests  of  a  few  days  ago  are 
now  clothed  in  green.  Tom  has  hired  two  Frenchmen  of  old 
France;  they  ridicule  the  priests,  advocate  national  schools,  and 
have  an  intense  hatred  for  all  forms  of  monarchial  governments 
and  nobility;  the  socialism  of  Europe  is  caused  by  an  oppression 
of  the  people  driven  to  desperate  remedies  to  remove  their  op- 
pression, but  of  course  "two  wrongs  never  make  a  right."  An 
inventor  has  discovered  a  new  means  of  guiding  a  baloon  by  pad- 
dles. Strange  how  little  progress  has  been  made  towards 
perfecting  aerial  navigation.  Some  of  the  members  of  the  Do- 
minion Parliament  are  acting  in  a  very  ungentlemanly  manner 
by  blackmailing  each  other.  Read  a  book  on  predestination 
A'hich  had  some  plausible  arguments,  but  it  appears  to  me  a 
horrible  doctrine  and  contrary  to  the  alleged  mercy  of  God, 
that  he  would  predestinate  millions  of  souls  to  eternal  punish- 
ment; man  I  believe  is  a  "free  agent"  and  if  he  lives  according 
to  the  better  sentiments  of  his  nature  he  will  in  most  cases  be 
happy  here  and  in  all  probability  in  the  great  hereafter;  no  ar- 
guments on  earth  would  convince  me  that  God  ever  doomed 
any  man  to  eternal  torment  without  first  giving  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  work  out  his  own  salvation.  The  Frenchmen  working 
for  us  for  35  cents  a  day  and  board  are  quiet,  steady  fellows. 
"Hartford  April  15th.  Dear  Tom  and  Arthur.  You  must 
wonder  at  my  not  answering  your  letters  before,  but  father 
thought  1  had  written  and  I  thou^;ht  he  had  and  besides  we 
have  had  a  visit  from  Angelica;  just  fancy  she  came  over  for 
only  one  week's  visit.     The   wagons  here   cost   s8o,  so   we  will 


^fjl    '  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

» 

get  one  at  Aston  for;^50  I  am  sorry  to  put  you  to  so  much  trouble 
but  hope  some  day  to  be  able  to  reciprocate;  we  have  bought 
^25  worth  of  manure;  have  paid  ;^l.50  a  cord  tor  wood  and  drew 
it  ourselves.  You  will  like  this  place  when  you  see  it,  I  wish 
we  had  you  near  us,  when  fall  comes  I  want  you  both  to  come 
and  visit  us,  when  I  will  show  you  a  scheme  we  have  on  hand, 
but  if  either  of  you  could  visit  us  during  the  Summer  we  would 
be  delighted  to  see  you;  Clifford  joins  me  in  love  to  you  both, 
your  affectionate  cousin  Richard.  P.  S.  Have  bought  two  2}4 
Ayrshire  cows  for  $7,$  each."  Read  a  book  on  Scottish  Pat- 
riots, they  certainly  exhibited  the  most  daring  courage  and  the 
noblest  patriotism  to  preserve  their  country's  independence. 
Richard  and  Clifford  have  sown  a  small  crop  for  a  farm  of  200 
acres,  only  15  acres  in  oats  potatoes  and  peas  and  12  in  meadow, 
the  rest  in  pasture  with  about  30  acres  in  woodland.  We  can 
hardly  sleep  at  night  from  the  bite  of  mosquitoes.  Read  a  book 
called  "ruins  of  sacred  and  historic  lands;"  truly  the  architecture 
of  the  present  day  is  in  m.any  cites  and  countries  (of  even  the 
civilized  portion  of  the  earth)  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  An- 
cients; there  are  few  buildings  of  modern  times  that  could  resist 
the  hand  of  time  3000  years.  Tom  has  sown  13  bushels  of  oats. 
Had  a  conversation  with  the  G's.  about  the  poor  prospects  for  a 
young  man  in  this  parish;  there  was  a  sucessful  celebration  of 
the  Queen's  birthday  at  Montreal,  over  10,000  people  viewed 
the  parade  of  the  Militia.  Rev.  H.  Beecher  and  Marquis  and 
Princess  were  there.  I  was  right  in  my  conjecture,  uncle  Rich- 
ard wants  us  to  sell  out  and  move  to  Lemington  to  be  near  our 
cousins.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  reading  Sir.  W.  Scott's  poems 
they  are  totally  free  from  those  objectionable  features  of  most 
poets  who  have  generally  at  least  a  tinge  of  the  Byron ian  style; 
have  also  been  reading  Shakespeare's  plays  a  second  time. 
Argued  with  one  of  our  workman  on  the  advantage  of  temper- 
ance, he  says  he  is  "too  far  gone"  and  has  not  the  power  to 
resist  the  desire  for  strong  drink,  a  truly  pitiable  condition  for  a 
man  to  be  in.  30  May.  exceedingly  hot  for  this  time  of  year, 
therrhometer  90  degrees  in  the  shade.  England  has  concluded 
peace  with  Afghanistan  on  favorable  terms,  gains  a  tract  of  rug- 
ged mountainous  country  that  will  form  a  natural  defense  for 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  .        >     95- 

India's  Frontier.  England  at  present  seems  to  have  a  very 
ag^gressive  policy.  Sold  some  seed  oats  to  cur  neighbors  at  40 
cents  a  bushel.  Daniel  C's  mother  is  so  angry  with  him  for  going 
to  "spark"  French  girls  that  she  refuses  to  cook  meals  for  him, 
a  truly  sad  state  of  affairs  between  mother  and  son.  Are  hav- 
ing occasional  light  showers  which  will  be  of  great  benefit  to 
the  crops.  At  a  "logging  bee"  at  Goldsmiths  29  log  piles  were 
made  they  used  a  horse  as  well  as  our  oxen.  We  have  had 
several  frosty  nights  which  has  frozen  all  tender  foliage.  Tom 
has  had  serious  trouble  with  Metz  Vincent  about  money  he  ad- 
vanced him  on  work;  have  read  many  standard  novels  of  late  by 
Chas.  Reade;  W.  Thackeray  and  George  Elliot.  Arphosine 
floude  is  deeply  in  love  with  Daniel  C.  they  went  yesterday  on 
a  pleasure  excursion  to  Sutton.  Henry  Milton  arrived  with  a 
letter  of  introduction  from  Mr.  Sherman,  I  gave  him  all  the  in- 
formation he  required,  he  has  bought  the  cut  of  the  bark  on  Mr. 
Sherman's  lot.  Sunday  15th  June,  to  day  is  called  "Fete  de  Dien," 
the  Canadians  have  great  processions  to  their  churches  in  honor 
of  their  bread  God  to  which  they  have  the  audacity  to  waiiC  Prot- 
estants to  take  oft  their  hats  if  they  encounter  the  procession,  1 
had  my  hat  on  one  occasion  knocked  partially  off  my  head 
and  when  it  passes  all  the  people  drop  on  their  knees 
on  the  dusty  road.  The  weather  is  cloudy  and  only  60  degrees 
above  zero.  Gave  Tom  Mallet  a  ditch  to  dig  at  ;^2.oo  an  acre 
3  feet  deep,  I  myself  am  also  finishing  the  long  ditch 
I  commenced  through  the  clearance.  Read  the  lives  of 
"Nelson  and  Collingwood,"  two  of  England's  greatest  naval 
heroes.  Herbert  Charmicheal  has  returned  from  St.  Louis,  where 
he  could  find  no  employment,  and  looks  quite  pile  after  the  pri- 
vations he  endured.  20th  of  June  although  a  cloudy  day  the 
thermometer  stands  at  80  in  the  shade.  Our  oats  look  splendid; 
the  hay  crop  promises  the  best  we  have  had  for  years;  the  French 
Prince  Imperial  has  been  killed  in  Zululand,  a  pity  seeing  he  was 
a  goodhearted,  gallant  young  man;  but  of  course  my  sympathies 
are  with  the  French  Republic,  I  admire  their  policy  and  how 
they  have  restored  prosperity  to  the  country;  his  mother  fain- 
ted when  she  heard  the  news  and  no  wonder,  the  only  child  she 
had  Oh  whom  all  her  hopes  were  centered.     I  pity  poor  Mrs.  C. 


g6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEKlCA. 

she  has  a  careworn  appearance  and  although  she  his  a  violent 
temper  and  is  a  very  vulgar  v/onian,  this  dojs  not  justify  the  dis- 
respectful conduct  of  her  son  Daniel, who  has  commenced  to  drink 
artd  smoke  since  he  associates  with  iloudes.  Oh  how  things 
have  changed  since  my  dear  mother's  death;  the  young  people 
of  this  place  have  all  deteriorated  since  they  have  lost  vhe  eleva- 
ting influence  she  used  to  exercise  on  them.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
Tom  has  also  commenced  to  take  a  social  c^lass;  have  tried  to 
persuade  them  to  give  up  the  habit;  showed  how  it  ruined  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  every  year  and  that  few  men  knew  how  strong 
the  habit  becomes,  till  it  is  too  late;  thousands  of  talented  men 
have  thought  they  could  drink  in  m-)deration  and  bj  safe,  and 
through  it  ruined  themselves  and  their  families;  even  the  per- 
nicious effect  it  has  on  others  ought  to  make  a  good  min  avoid 
it  for  the  same  reason  that  one  of  the  greatest  Christian  teachers 
gives,  "if  eating  meat  cause  my  brother  to  offend  I  will  eat  no 
meat."  Went  to  Mrs.  C's.  she  appeared  very  jovial  from  which 
I  imagine  she  has  been  before  the  thi  ne  of  Bacchus.  Have  giv- 
en the  job  of  plastering  the  inside  of  our  house  for  $12,  we  to 
furnish  materials  and  a  man  to  attend  on  the  plasterer;  Tom 
Mallet  offered  his  services  tor  $12  a  month  and  board,  but  he  is 
so  impudent  that  we  dislike  to  hire  him.  But  persons  wishing 
to  get  on  in  the  world  should  not  be  influenced  by  their  feelings, 
all  must  be  sacrificed  excepting  one's  honor  and  health  to  climb 
the  difficult  road  to  wealth.  I  often  feel  what  a  pity  Tom  and 
I  are  not  surrounded  by  better  society,  after  having  spent  an 
evening  at  Houde's  or  some  other  neighbor  the  shallow  pleas- 
ure derived  while  there  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  pain  and 
regret  afterwards  for  having  wasted  my  time  amongst  them;  have 
read  Tennyson's  poems  of  late.  While  at  G's  they  said  the  land 
on  this  range  was  too  rocky  for  successful  farming;  the  Carmi- 
cheal's  have  not  paid  their  school  taxes  on  account  of  some 
quibble  of  the  condition  of  school  affairs;  told  him  that  any  one 
who  for  some  trifling  quibble  would  refuse  to  pay  his  taxes  and 
try  to  put  our  school  into  the  hands  of  the  R.  C's.  did  not  de- 
serve the  name  of  Protestant,  and  was  a  fool  in  the  bargain,  as 
the  taxes  of  the  Roman  Catholics  are  much  higher  than  ours. 
I  am  mixing  the  first  "coat  of  plaster  put  hair  in  it  to  prevent  it 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  [^^ 

from  falling;  have  also  commenced  clearing  out  the  stream  on 
our  lots,  a  very  unpleasant  job,  we  are  up  to  our  knees  in  mud 
and  water.  Some  French  "bark  peelers  aie  staying  at  our  house 
I  write  this  while  listening  to  their  jabber,  songs,  jests,  grinding 
of  axes  and  the  frizzling  of  their  pork,  that  is  being  fried  for  their 
supper.  Read  of  a  machine  invented  in  England  that  turns  out 
woolen  goods,  cottons  and  silk  with  only  a  few  men  to  work  it 
while  the  old  machine  employed  30  men.  The  Zulus'  are  still 
holding  out,  their  King  Cetawago  has  shown  a  considerable 
amount  of  tact  as  general.  Tom  Murphy  saw  a  bear,  we  chased 
it  in  the  raspberry  bushes  with  a  revolver  and  gun  but  could  not 
hit  it.  Tom's  mother  is  a  half  breed  Indian  and  he  has  inher- 
ited miny  Indian  characteristics;  he  walks  like  one  and  is  terribly 
revengeful.  I  commenced  cutting  hay  in  the  Beaver  meadows. 
It  has  commenced  to  rain  in  torrents;  hope  we  will  have  fair 
weather  to  save  our  hay.  The  Vincent  family  were  all  taken  up 
for  being  drunk  and  fighting  in  the  streets,  four  of  the  brothers 
and  the  father  got  released  by  paying  a  fine  of  ^4.5;  Metz  who 
works  for  us  escaped  but  was  caught  in  the  wood  by  two  bailiffs. 
I  have  at  last  persuaded  the  C's.  to  pay  their  taxes.  The  roads 
are  in  a  bad  condition,  especially  the  "big  swamp"  a  mile  long 
is  covered  with  peat  to  the  depth  of  18  ft.;  some  places  the  road 
trembles  when  the  wagons  pass  over  it.  Have  hired  the  three 
Houde  girls  to  rake  hay  at  50  cents  a  day;  they  can  perform 
nearly  as  much  work  as  a  man;  it  is  a  very  heavy  crop  this 
year.  I  mowed  three  acres  of  father's  hay  in  one  day,  worked 
from  daylight  to  dark;  the  hay  was  not  a  heavy  growth  and 
the  land  entirely  free  from  stumps  and  stones  I  felt  completely 
tired  out  at  the  end  of  the  day.  Sir  Garnet  Woolsley  is  in  com- 
mand of  the  British  forces  in  Zulu  land  in  place  of  Lord  Chelms- 
ford, who  is  the  poorest  Peer  in  Great  Britain  with  the  small 
income  of  ^4000  a  year.  Letilier,  the  Lieutenant  Governor 
of  the  Province  of  Quebec  has  been  dismissed  much  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  Liberal  party  with  whom  e  was  in  sympathy. 
Red  cherries  are  ripe,  they  flourish  in  every  clearance  and  grow 
in  great  profusion  by  the  road-sides  throughout  this  part  of  the 
country,  but  they  have    more  kernel  than   fruit.     I  have  been 

appointed  secretary  to    the    English    school.     Have    given  out 

ii3 


yi  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.     '  , 

the  cutting  of  some  of  our  hay  at  50  cents  an  acre.  Have  had 
a  great  deal  of  work  to  do  on  our  roads;  in  a  letter  dated  14th 
July,  Richard  asks  us  to  try  and  hire  a  boy  out  our  way  for  him 
says  '*'our  hay  is  nearly  all  in,  only  26  loads  double  ones. 
People  say  farmers  are  always  great  grumblers  but  I  trust  we 
will  not  acquire  the  bad  habit;  our  oats  are  well  headed  out.  Mr. 
Milton  called  in  to  have  Tom  write  a  letter  in  French  to  his 
Sweetheart  a  French  girl  at  St.Augustin.  In  making  hay  it  should 
not  be  allowed  to  get  wet,  especially  after  it  is  partially  dried, 
nor  should  it  be  drrcd  too  much,  one  day  of  good  sunshine  is 
sufficient  for  an  average  crop  but  when  a  very  heavy  growth  a 
day  and  a  half  is  required  and  it  has  to  be  spread  over  the  ground's 
surface.  Gave  one  of  Milton's  bark  peelers  a  job  of  clearing  out 
five  acres  of  the  stream,  merely  the  timber  that  had  fallen  in  and 
the  brush  on  the  banks  at  $1  ciix  acre.  The  Miss  Carmichaels 
have  arrived  from  Montreal,  being  expelled  from  a  ladies  college 
in  Upper  Canada. and  are  the  wildest  girls  I  ever  saw,  the  youngest 
s  very  good  looking  a  "dare  devil  sort  of  a  girl  who  swears  like 
a  trooper;  the  other  one  is  just  as  bad  only  that  she  is  more  of  a 
hypocrite;  I  thought  what  a  pity  these  girls  were  not  properly  ed- 
ucated, it  certainly  seems  disgraceful  for  a  man  worth  half  a 
million  to  let  his  children  run  wild;  they  were  sent  to  school 
of  course  but  that  was  all,  the  rest  of  the  tinie  they  spent  as  they 
liked  on  the  streets;  their  mother  being  deaf  and  an  "easy  going" 
sort  of  woman,  did  not  care  for  them  and  the  father  was  too 
much  occupied  in  business,  the  consequence  is  the  boys  are  the 
wildest  vagabonds  in  the  city  and  there  is  no  prospect  of  the  girls 
ever  becoming  ladies,  although  they  are  educated  in  most  of  the 
accomplishments  a  lady  should  have.  Had  a  school  meeting,  I 
gave  the  trustees  the  amount  uf  the  value  of  the  dissentient  prop- 
erty in  the  parish,  which  amounts  to  1^25,800;  they  struck  a  rate 
of  J^  of  a  cent  on  the  dollar  and  decided  to  keep  school  at  Mer- 
edith's house.  Tom  Murphy  discovered  a  nest  of  bees  on 
Sherman's  lot;  we  went  with  lanterns  at  midnight  and  cut  the 
tree  down  and  "smoked  out  the  bees"  and  brought  back  two 
pailfuls  of  honey.  12th  September  cut  our  buckwheat  and 
housed  it;  engaged  Tom  Murphy  for  three  months  at  ;^io  a 
month  and  board.     Have  commenced  cutting  saw  logs  for  a  new 


J  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  99 

barn  wc  are  having  built;  th^  putting  up  of  the  frame  and  the 
squaring  of  the  timber  we  have  given  to  a  French  Canadian  for 
540.  The  C.  girls  are  thoroughly  enjoying  themselves  in  actend* 
ing  French  dances  and  spending  evenings  at  French  houses.  i6 
September.  Have  commenced  cutting  our  oat'*;  gave  Metz  Vin- 
cent the  job  of  drawing  sufficient  stone  for  a  stone  stable  6  ft 
high  which  we  have  decided  to  build  on  the  hillside  underneath 
the  barn.  In  the  Autumn  the  game  of  "bluft  with  cards"  for 
apples  amongst  the  French  is  very  prevalent.  Had  a  "bee"  to 
raise  our  new  barn  which  is  40  x  •  5c  ft.;  Tom  would  insist  on 
having  whiskey  for  the  men  as  they  always  have  it  at  other 
"bees.  Several  of  the  men  stole  the  whiskey  out  of  a  cupboard 
and  got  beastly  drunk;  the  F'rench  however  are  a  good  natured 
people  and  there  were  no  serious  fights;  had  the  crowd  been 
Irishmen  I  expect  they  would  have  been  breaking  each  others 
heads.  John  Murphy  went  in  search  of  his  son  Tom  (who  had 
went  to  sleep  off  the  effects  of  the  liquor  in  a  mow  of  hay);  by 
taking  a  pitch  fork  and  probing  the  hay;  we  however  obliged 
him  to  desist  from  this  rather  dangerous  method  of  searching 
for  his  son.  Have  hired  two  stone  masons  to  help  us  to  build 
the  stone  stable  under  the  barn.  In  several  nights  of  the  past 
fortnight  there  has  been  a  mild  frost.  There  has  been  a  revolt 
at  Cabul,  Afghanistan,  and  the  members  of  the  English  Em- 
bassy have  been  murdered,  it  is  however  only  a  faction;  the 
Ameer  still  sides  with  the  English.  Received  a  letter  from 
Richard  saying  he  "expected  us  to  go  and  see  them  after  our  crops 
were  in.  We  had  only  one  acre  of  potatoes  and  tried  to  keep  off 
the  beetles  by  picking,  but  our  efforts  looked  ridiculous  so  we 
had  to  put  on  London  Purple  which  destroyed  them  all  and  . 
stopped  our  neighbors  cattle  from  trespassing."  The  Senate  of 
Quebec  have  refused  to  give  their  sanction  to  the  "bill  of  supply" 
for  the  Lower  House  in  hope  to  make  the  Liberal  party  resign, 
but  that  party  nobly  holds  out.  Nearly  all  the  elections  that 
have  taken  pK^ce^for 'mcipl^ers.siace,  the  la^t  general  election 
shows  that  the  '^ecJpfle  hiive .  cpnfijdjsnc^,  m  j^e  party.  We  have 
commenced  to  clear  land  behind  th6  Bekv^r  meadows.  Went 
with  Tom  Murphy.  Jts>,  y^i.CQariii  9^  south,  ^ast  direction  east  of 
East  Hastings;  drove  40-  mil6s  and  s^iw  ^ome  ..interesting  coun-, 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

try  with  many  orchards.  Mr.  C.  came  from  Montreal,  although 
a  very  clever  man  he  is  very  vulgar,  for  instance,  in  speaking  to 
me  of  his  stepmother  he  said  "her  photo  could  be  sold  to  frighten 
away  rats;"  the  whole  family  are  vulgar  in  the  extreme;  the 
boys  talK  about  dog  fights,  cock  fights,  boxing  matches,  rows 
in  taverns  etc.,  the  girls  cf  their  flirtations  and  their  numerous 
admirers,  the  father  of  "my  walking  down  the  street  with  the 
honorable  Mr.  so  and  so  and  of  dining  with  M.  P's.  and  other 
notable  persons."  Russian  Territory  is  steadily  approaching 
India,  much  to  the  alarm  of  Russia-phohists.  The  Chinese 
have  recovered  their  Province  from  Russia.  The  Liberals  of 
Quebec  have  only  now  a  majority  of  three  but  still  hold  out. 
Uncle  Richard  sent  us  the  following  letter  to  him  from  uncle 
Jerrold.  "My  dear  Richard.  1  was  glad  to  hear  from  you  as  I 
have  been  anxious  about  your  son  Richard's  health;  the  farm  is 
a  good  idea  as  it  will  be  a  healthy  and  useful  amusement;  I  am 
obliged  to  put  off  my  visit  to  Canada  till  next  summer  when  I 
expect,  please  God,  to  visit  you;  this  is  almost  certain  as  I  find 
my  old  illness  returning  and  my  former  trip  nearly  cured  me; 
tell  Howard's  I  hope  to  see  great  improvements  on  their  farm. 
Agriculture,  and  in  fact  eveiything  is  as  dull  as  ditch  water 
here,  bvit  most  wonderful  of  all  my  old  practice  has  fallen  down 
to  almost  nothing;  for  40  years  it  has  been  a  little  California  to 
me  and  why  it  should  so  suddenly  collapse  I  cannot  imagine, 
prob  ibly  th.^  n  ?w  energetic  practitioners  are  shelving  as  veterans 
on  the  retired  list;  as  far  as  I  myself  am  personally  concerned  it 
matters  little  as  my  bread  is  baked  and  dinner  cooked,  yet  I  am 
so  sorry  to  see  so  many  better  men  than  myself  at  the  end  of 
•their  career  losing  their  practice  and  with  nothing  laid  by  for 
their  old  age;  trade  is  depressed  all  over  the  world  except  in 
France,  the  country  of  all  others  whose  ruin  was  predicted; 
here  in  England  it  is  awful,  we  have  been  badly  used;  every  na- 
tion has  taken  our  money  and  in  return,  even  our  Colonies 
actually  prohibit  our  trade' -altli^ ugh  we  •ad'mif.  all  goods  at 
merely  a  nominal  rave,  or  aU<)^ef4ier  fpeef 'happv^  thrice  happy 
are  you  in  Canada  farming  homesteads,  out  of  turmoil  and  the 
sight  of  misery;  1  "trust  -you  -vvili '  Veep  ^n'  .'a('cC)unfe''of  the  profits 
on  your  frrm  to  giv^  m^  a'a-ieiea  of  the -profit  and 'loss;  you  will 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  lOl 

probably  for  the  next  two  years  spend  a  great  deal  of  money  be- 
fore you  get  any  returns,  the  hnglish  laborers  I  fear  are  gone 
into  habits  of  lazy  detnorilization,  idleness,  cheating  and  lying- 
are  their  chief  characteristics,  and  the  servant  "gals"  are  upstart, 
impudent,  reckless  hussies,  running  about  from  place  to  place 
careless  of  the  future,  never  thinking  of  saving  their  own  or  their 
employers  money;  they  live  flighty,  flirting  extravagant  lives 
and  end  their  days  in  a  workhouse,  a  sourse  of  annoyance  all 
their  lives  and  at  last  an  expense  to  the  overtaxed  middle  class- 
es. The  floods,  overflows  of  rivers,  countries  under  water,  and 
storms  have  at  last  ceased;  great  fears  are  entertained  of  a  bad 
harvest  and  a  general  scarcity;  I  should  think  that  breeding  of 
stock  on  your  farm  would  be  bjtter  than  raising  corn;  the 
weather  is  fine  but  close  and  dull.  You  may  bye  and  bye  hear 
of  a  war  declared  between  Russia  and  ICngland.  I  shall  be  glad 
to  get  a  letter  from  To;n  and  Arthur  although  I  owe  them  one; 
love  to  your  family  and  friends  in  Montreal  and  the  Howards; 
believe  me  always  your  affectionate  brother,  J.  1^.  Goldsmith." 
In  a  letter  to  us  he  says  "if  you  nave  as  much  rain  as  we  have 
it  must  prevent  you  from  clearing  out  the  stream;  that  will  be  a 
rare  piece  of  fertile  land  yet.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  use 
the  stream  bye  and  bye  for  irrigating  the  adjoining  lands;  water 
is  a  most  valuable  fertilizer  over  here  and  a  little  stream  with  a 
dam  to  send  it  over  the  adjoining  fields  renders  the  property  of 
double  value;  that  stream  of  yours  looks  to  me  like  a  tough  job 
to  clear  out,  plenty  of  work  late  and  early,  but  perseverance 
will  do  anything.  I  hope  you  have  no  dealings  with  the  stores 
and  that  you  do  not  run  credit  for  a  sin^jle  farthing;  the  stores 
and  credit  have  been  the  ruin  of  thousands;  better  to  live  on  a 
dry  crust  with  hard  work  than  to  eat  fish  and  meat  and  be  at 
the  mercy  of  a  storekeeper;  some  of  them  have  no  more  con- 
science than  a  butcher's  dog  and  no  more  feeling  than  a  cobbler's 
tapstone.  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  go  to  Canada  this  year  as 
Rupert  cannot  be  spared  from  his  studies  at  Oxford.  It  was  a 
good  idea  to  build  another  barn  nothing  better  than  plenty  of 
room,  except  it  be  plenty  of  stock  and  corn;  I  expect  to  see  you, 
please  God,  get  rich  and  prosperous  farmers  with  good  clear  fer- 
tile land  and  plenty  of  everything,     Rupert  had   a  friend  of  his 


102  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

from  Oxford  here  who  is  just  saying  what  lucky  fellows  you 
are,  not  livinfr  in  this  smoky  city  where  the  air  looks  like  dirty 
pea  soup,  and   they  would  like  to  go  out  there  and  plough  and 

^  dig  and  cut  wood  on  their  own  freeholds;  his  friend,  Roberts,  a 
young  man  from  Australia  is  longing  to  get  back  to  his  Austra- 
lian fields;  he  hates  London  but  must  remain  at  Oxford  Uni- 
versity three  years  until  he  takes  his  degree;  he  says  he  would 
not  live  here  if  he  was  made  King  of  England.  The  Whigs 
Radicals,  Conservatives  and  Irish  home  rulers  are  the  four  po- 
litical parties  now  agitating  this  country."  The  Elms,  Hartford 
Sept.  30th.  "Dear  Tom  rnd  Arthur.  Yours  of  the — received. 
I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  have  all  yonr  crops  in,  we  can't  s:ty 
the  same  as  our  corn  now  is  only  being  cut;  we  had  s'jch  mii- 
erable  weather  that  our  oats  and  buckwheat  have  only  been  in  a 
few  days;  we  have  commenced  at  our  potatoes  and  then  we  have 
mangolds  and  turnips  which  will  take  us  three  weeks  to  finish; 
of  course  fall  ploughing  goes  on  at  the  same  time  and  we  have 
commenced  putting  up  a  barbed  wire  fence.  To-morrow  1  am 
going  to  Montreal  will  return  in  about  a  week;  could  you  come 
and  see  us  when  I  come  back,  by  the  loth.  "Dear  Tom  and 
Arthur;  Richard  left  yesterday  and  did  not  have  time  to  finish 
his  letter  so  he  deputed  me  to  do  so;  we  will  be  at  Lemington 
Station  to  meet  you  when  you  come.  The  country  here  is  look- 
ing lovely,  it  is  wonderful  weather  for  Oct.  80  degrees  in  the 
shade;  excuse  this  horrid  scrawl,  your  affectionate  cousin, 
Clifford."  Had  a  discussion  with  J  Murphy  on  Irish  affairs; 
proved  to  him  from  history  that  the  first  conquest  of  Ireland,  by 
Henry  II  received  the  sanction  of  the  infallible  Pope,  Adrian;  also 
argued  on  religion,  I  told  bim  that  it  was  plainly  evident  to  un- 
prejudiced and  impartial  minds  that  there  was  no  perfect  system 

,  of  religion  on  this  earth,  nor  even  a  perfect  system  of  education 
and  that  the  degraded  condition  of  the  majority  of  Catholics  and 
other  Christians  was  a  plain  proof  of  this;  he  argued  that  the 
Apostolic  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  the  only  true  and  per- 
fect church  and  that  its  doctrines  were  exactly  the  same  now  as 
in  the  time  of  the  Apostles;  I  told  him  that  some  of  the  chief  doc- 
trines were  perhaps  the  same,  but  that  in  its  discipline  and  the 
spirit  that  actuated  the  policy  of  the  church  were  entirely  dift- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  IO3 

ercnt,  that  it  forbids  its  priests  to  marry,  which  is  only  a  com- 
mand of  the  rulers  of  the  church,  for  that  Christ  himself  restored 
Pope  Peter's  wife  to  him  and  never  commanded  any  of  his 
teachers  or  preachers  to  abstain  from  marriage;  and  that  Christ 
commanded  his  teachers  and  Apostles  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
all  men  without  money  and  without  price,  but  the  Catholic 
priests  in  this  province  would  sell  a  poor  man'j  homestead  for 
the  dues  he  owed  his  church,  which  was  in  direct  contradiction 
to  the  commands  of  Christ;  and  that  in  Italy  the  priesthood  of 
the  Catholic  Church  had  burdened  the  people  with  the  expense 
of  building  gorgeous  and  stately  cathedrals,  costing  millions  of 
dollars,  while  the  people  were  in  a  pitiable  state  of  poverty  and 
ignorance,  that  of  course  this  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  doc- 
trines of  Catholicism,  but  at  the  same  time  their  unchristlike 
conduct  imd  acting  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  beautiful  spirit 
and  principles  that  pervade  the  true  gospel  of  Christ  ought  to 
cause  them  to  be  regarded,  not  as  the  ministers  of  Christ,  but 
as  selfish  and  fraudulent  priests;  also  that  the  more  enlightened 
religion  of  Protestantism  with  a  praiseworthy  liberality  allow 
men  to  a  certain  extent  the  use  of  their  own  judgment  in  apply- 
ing the  great  truths  of  Christ's  teaching  to  themselves  as  a  guiae 
through  life,  but  that  the  rulers  of  Catholicism  with  a  truly  dog- 
matic tyranny  lay  down  the  law  to  every  member  of  their  church 
which  they  accept  in  humble  childish  faith  as  from  God  himself; 
also  ridiculed  their  diabolical  belief  that  all  men  who  absolutely 
[refuse  to  believe  their  supernatural  nonsense  "'will  suffer  ever- 
asting  torment."  Murphy  said  that  he  thought  this  quite  right 
hat  a  man  should  be  punished  for  refusing  to  believe  the  truth, 
ead  in  the  Animal  World,  a  Biitish  newspaper  published  by 
he  society  of  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  Uncle  Her- 
ert  and  Aunt  Margaret  told  me  that  a  young  man  could  never 
^et  with  much  success  by  living  here.  Have  read  the  "History 
bf  France"  of  late.  Tom  has  just  returned  from  "The  Elms," 
ichard  and  Clifford's  farm.  I  have  named  our  place  Elmbrook. 
avid  Grant,  master  of  the  Orangemen,  has  sued  Mayor  Beau- 
ry  of  Montreal  for  illegal  imprisonment,  but  lost  his  suit  which 
as  for  ;^ 1 0,000.  The  Afghan  revolt  is  not  quelled  yet;  several 
giment.:  have  left  England  to  reinforce  the  troops.    The  Zulu 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  /  v 

war  is  over  and  the  great  savage  Cetawayo  is  a  prisoner.  There 
has  been  a  murder  in  Montreal,  one  woman  killed  another. 
The  dead  lock  stiil  continues  between  the  Liberals  and  Legis- 
lative Council,  which  has  a  faint  resemblance  to  the  English 
House  of  Lords,  they  refuse  to  sanction  the  Bill  of  Supplies;  it 
is  likely  that  Joly,  the  Liberal  Primier,  will  appeal  to  the  people 
and  be  successful.  The  Russians  are  progressing  very  slowly 
with  their  campaign  at  Merva  and  have  suffered  a  defeat  from 
the  Turcomonds.  The  Russian  and  British  Empire  are  fast  ap- 
proaching each  other,  it  is  quite  possible  that  there  will  yet  be  a 
deadly  struggle  between  the  Lion  and  the  Bear,  Am  suffering 
from  toothache,  smoking  somewhat  eases  it;  have  commenced 
to  build  tramways  into  the  threshing  floorof  the  new  barn;  while 
clearing  land  benind  the  Beaver  Meadows  I  glanced  around  me 
and  saw  land  stretching  away  acres  upon  acres  in  every  direction, 
of  a  dark,  rich,  alluvial  soil  over  six  feet  dtep  which  only  requires 
perseverance  and  hard  work  to  clear  and  drain  it  and  make  it 
some  of  the  best  land  in  Canada,  I  felt  that  we  should  give  our 
farm  a  longer  trial  betore  we  thought  of  leaving  it;  the  ground 
is  very  damp,  at  every  footstep  the  water  oozes  out  of  the  ground- 
Grant's  steam  planing  mill  was  burnt  at  Aston  last  week.  As- 
ton has  a  bad  reputation  amongst  insurance  companies;  at  one 
time  some  refused  to  insure  buildings  in  it.  Tom  and  I  discussed 
the  objections  and  advantages  of  going  to  live  near  our  cousins 
at  Hartford.  The  objections  are  that  land  is  very  dear  and  those 
farms  that  can  be  had  cheap  are  exhausted  and  worn  out;  labor 
is  also  very  dear  and  we  would  have  to  adopt  a  more  expensive 
mode  of  living  as  the  farmers  around  there  keep  up  a  consider- 
able amount  of  style;  the  advantages  would  be  improved  society 
and  none  of  the  drudgery  that  is  on  a  bush  farm.  Trade  and 
commerce  in  Canada  have  begun  to  revive;  the  Conservatives 
say  this  is  to  be  attributed  to  their  policy  of  protection,  the  Lib- 
erals, that  it  is  to  be  attributed  to  good  crops  and  the  economy 
that  all  classes  exercised  after  the  hard  times;  perhaps  there  is 
some  truth  in  both  their  claims.  The  Liberals  have  suffered  a 
defeat  in  the  German  Parliament;  the  elections  in  Belgium  have 
decided  in  favor  of  national  education.  Edgeworth,  of  Richford 
came  and  looked  over  the  timber  on  our  lots;  I  sold  him  all  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  IO5 

ash  timber  on  400  acres  and  20  cedar  trees  for  ^§50;  bought  cloth 
for  a  tweed  suit  for  $d.go,  hning  and  buttons  i^i.QO,  tailor  for 
making  it  $y,  bought  a  pair  of  rubbers  60  cents.  On  going  over 
our  accounts  found  that  we  will  be  $2$  short  this  quarter,  but  I 
thmk'  my  uncles  will  say  nothing  as  we  are  making  great  im- 
provements; wrote  this  in  the  cars  on  my  way  to  Lemington 
Oct.  30.  This  is  a  "mixed"  train  travels  very  slowly;  left  Aston 
at  1 2  o'clock;  the  country  on  each  side  of  the  track  between 
Aston  and  Davenport  six  miles  is  unsettled,  neither  is  it  settled 
between  it  and  Dudley,  exceptiiig  a  few  farm  houses;  the  pri- 
meval forest  has  been  cut  away  and  there  is  a  second  growth  of 
poplar,  birch  and  maple.  The  country  is  flat  with  a  few  knolls 
here  and  there;  nearing  Dudley  the  land  improves;  Dudley  is 
an  luiglish  village,  with  three  churches  one  Roman  Catholic;  it 
is  not  as  centrally  situated  as  Aston  and  has  not  half  as  much 
tradj;  Livingston  the  next  stopping  place  consisted  of  a  few 
houses  surrounded  by  a  dense  growth  ofTamarac,  spruce  and 
balsam,  the  land  is  level  and  swampy;  the  conductor  informed 
me  as  we  were  traveling  at  the  rate  of  25  miles  an  hour;  passed 
over  a  small  river  and  through  some  railroad  cuttings  from5o  to  85* 
ft.  deep;  the  country  commences  to  be  more  hilly  and  heavily 
wooded  with  clearances  here  and  there.  We  are  now  approach- 
ing Melford  and  Rawlings  and  are  passing  through  fine  undula- 
ting country  and  pleasing  scenery  with  fine  farm  houses,  orchards 
and  glistening  streams;  the  river  St.  David  divides  Milford  from 
Pawlings;  there  is  an  English  college  here  called  St  David's 
college;  it  has  many  fine  residences  of  brick  covered  with  slate; 
its  trade  is  no  longer  carried  on  in  the  same  manner  as  in  vil- 
lages but  everything  is  sold  separately;  has  dry  goods  stores, 
groceries,  hardware  stores  and  confectionaries;  has  a  bank  and 
three  churches  one  Roman  Catholic;  the  river  is  about  three 
acres  wide;  changed  cars  here  for  Lemington;  since  1  left  Aston 
a  little  snow  has  fallen;  there  are  three  women  close  to  me  who 
I  imagine  must  be  walking  advertisements  of  some  manufacturer 
of  perfume;  it  shows  very  poor  taste  to  use  it  to  such  an  extent; 
the  railway  track  runs  parallel  with  the  river  St.  David;  there 
are  fine  groups  of  cattle  and  sheep  grazing  in  well  fenced  fielas; 
in  some  of  the  flocks  there   are   at  least  50  to  75  sheep;  the 

14 


I06  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.      ' 

country  looks  charming  with  its  hills  here  and  there  covered 
with  evergreen  groves;  the  river  is  getting  smaller  as  we  go  to- 
wards its  source,  the  current  is  very  swift  and  has  many  pretty 
islands  in  it.  On  approaching  Waterloo  the  country  is  very  pic- 
turesque; the  river  is  covered  with  foam;  there  is  splendid  water 
power  here;  to  my  discomfort  a  Frenchwoman  came  and  sat  in 
the  same  seat  with  a  brawling  baby  in  her  anus.  The  bed  of  the 
river  has  huge  rocks  in  it  and  looks  very  fine  with  foam  and 
w^ater  dashing  against  them;  the  country  is  getting  wilder  the 
clearances  smaller  and  it  is  snowing  considerably;  the  country 
again  commences  to  be  more  cleared  and  numerous  little  streams 
join  the  river.  At  Benton  there  is  a  huge  saw  mill  and  immense 
piles  of  lumber;  the  banks  of  the  river  after  leaving  Benton  are 
covered  with  a  second  growth;  it  was  dark  when  we  arrived  at 
Sherman,  disembarked  at  Lemington;  got  shaved  and  bought  a 
pair  of  cloth  gloves  for  50  cents,  it  was  3  miles  from  Lemington 
to  Hartford,  I  rode  with  a  farmer  as  far  as  Hartford,  walked  from 
there  to  the  Elms  ^  a  mile.  Fred  Steele  a  cousin  of  Richard's 
was  spending  the  evening  at  the  Elms,  he  is  studying  for  the 
ministry  at  Lemington  College.  Had  a  warm  discussion  with 
Fred  on  ritualism  in  the  Church  of  England;  went  to  church 
next  day  at  Marsdon,  which  consists  of  a  grist  mill,  store,  a  few 
houses  and  a  small  Episcopal  chapel  also  a  post  office;  the  con- 
gregation was  small  and  well  dressed  and  of  better  appearance 
than  is  usual  with  rnstic  congregations;  the  clergyman  preached 
a  nice  evangelical  sermon,  but  Richard  says  he  is  high  church 
at  heart  but  is  afraid  of  displeasing  the  congregation;  strolled 
over  the  farm  after  dinner,  most  of  the  soil  is  light  and  sandy 
and  about  ^  of  the  farm  is  lying  waste,  but  by  fertilizers  and  a 
proper  rotation  of  crops,  Richard  and  Clifford  expect  to  make  it 
a  beautiful  and  fertile  farm.  Read  some  of  the  standard  authors 
till  a  very  late  hour  in  my  room.  Went  for  a  drive  with  Rich- 
ard  next  day,  many  of  the  farms  around  here  exhibit  a  want  of 
thrift;  many  fields  covered  with  moss  and  have  not  been  culti- 
vated during  the  last  10  years,  but  on  towards  Carlton  the  farms 
were  better  cultivated,  in  fact  Carlton  is  considered  one  of  the 
finest  farming  districts  in  Quebec.  I  am  reading  as  much  as 
possible;    all   the     new     books     I    find   in   the   library.     Have 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  \oy 

helped  Clifford  to  cut  some  driftwood  on  the  Salmon  river  also 
brushwood  along  the  river's  bank.  Had  a  discussion  with  Rich- 
ard on  the  system,  of  promotion  in  the  English  Army.  I  said  no 
Duke  ought  to  be  allowed,  as  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  to  be 
commander-in-chief  of  the  British  Army,  unless  he  deserved  it 
by  merit.  Helped  them^to  pull  out  their  mangolds  and  turnips 
also  to  thresh  their  grain  with  a  mill  which  threshes  loo  bushels 
a  day;  they  have  80  bushels  of  mangolds  and  turnips.  Went 
for  a  drive  with  Richard,  saw  some  fine  fruit  farms  also  passed  a 
picturesque  spot,  a  schoolhouse  surrounded  by  forest  with  a 
fine  waterfall  close  to  it;  there  are  very  few  rocks  in  this  part  of 
the  country.  Richard  and  Clifford  take  21  English  and  Amer- 
icm  novvs[)apers  and  magazines;  if  I  had  means  I  would  take  all 
tiiL'  leading  newspapers  and  magazines  of  the  world  and  purchase 
all  historiccd  and  scientific  works  and  write  the  best  history  of 
the  earth  ever  written.  It  seems  sad  to  me  that  some  of  the 
many  men  of  wealth  and  leisure  do  not  devote' their  lives  to  the 
classification  of  literature  and  scientific  research;  sometimes  my 
heart  is  moved  by  a.nbition  andl  think  can  I  not  rise  to  a  higher 
and  more  useful  position  in  the  world;  I  have  often  serious 
thoughts  of  entering  the  English  Army  but  I  know  my  uncles 
would  be  terribly  indignant.  On  17th  left  Richard's  they  invited 
me  to  come  next  summer  and  that  we  should  all  go  on  a  fish- 
ing excursion  to  Lake  Megantic;  at  the  station  were  a  band  of 
college  boys  playing  lively  airs  in  honor  of  a  friend  of  theirs 
who  was  going  to  England  to  enter  the  English  Army.  On 
reaching  Rawlings  went  to  Melford  to  see  the  Wakefields;  there 
was  a  small  party  and  dancing  in  the  evening  to  which  a  few 
friends  were  invited.  Daniel  VV.  is  at  a  military  college  at  Que- 
bec. Went  out  riding  with  Winfred  W.  next  day  and  although 
I  consider  nyself  a  fair  horseman  this  young  lady  almost  fright- 
ened me  the  way  she  made  her  horse  gallop  across  the  country, 
over  ditches  and  everything  else  that  came  in  our  way,  and  up 
a  precipitous  rocky  range  of  hills  to  a  slate  quarry  and  visited 
some  of  her  friends  who  very  kindly  insisted  on  our  taking  lunch 
before  leaving.  The  manager  told  me  that  it  would  take  ^80 
worth  of  slate  to  cover  a  barn  40  x  50  ft.  Miss  W.  is  a  very 
agreeable  companion,  having  good  conversational  powers  and 


I08  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

n  ne  of  the  disagreeable  aftectation  that  some  city  ladies  have. 
While  at  Sherman  I  was  greatly  struck  with  the  remarkably 
fine  water  power,  it  has  one  of  the  finest  in  the  province;  it's 
main  street  has  magnificent  stores  that  would  do  credit  to  a  city 
of  50,000  population  let  alone  lo.oco;  is  a  manufacturing  town 
and  one  of  the  most  progressive  in  Canada.  I  am  greatly  sur- 
prised at  the  great  superiority  of  all  the  English  towns  compared 
to  the  French.  Rawlings  is  one  of  the  prettiest  and  neatest 
towns  in  the  province,  and  has  an  almost  wholly  English  pop- 
ulation. While  at  Montreal  I  received  the  quarter's  money 
and  read  a  book  entitled  the  "British  Legion  in  the  Spanish 
war;"  both  Uncle  Richard  and  Jerrold  served  as  surgeons  in  it. 
Mr.  Hayton  uncle's  brother-in-law,  consul  for  three  of  the  South 
American  Republics  and  Denmark;  in  Montreal  related  one 
evening  some  of  his  adventures  in  the  Danish  war  while  the 
gentleman  were  having  their  wine,  but  after  adjourning  to  the 
drawing  room  the  conversation  among  the  ladies  was  not  so  in- 
teresting or  useful,  being  composed  chiefty  of  those  "little 
nothings"  which  almost  universally  pervades  the  conversation 
of  the  best  society;  I  trust  however,  for  the  interests  of  hun^nrly 
that  the  good  society  of  future  years  will  not  allow  "society  gos- 
sip" to  form  the  chief  material  of  their  conversation.  The  eldest 
Miss  Wakefield  only  gets  ;$I4  a  month  for  teaching  30  scholars; 
what  a  shame  to  pay  a  teacher  (who  in  a  great  measure  forms 
the  characters  of  the  rising  generation)  less  than  a  man  v.ho  digs 
ditches.  The  Liberal  party  has  been  overthrown,  some  of  it's 
members  turned  their  political  coats  and  deserted  their  party 
like  craven  cowards;  I  am  exceedingly  sorry  as  I  am  confident 
the  majority  of  the  Liberal  party  had  the  true  interests  of  the 
country  at  heart  and  not  so  many  public  leaches  as  the  Conser- 
vatives. On  my  return  home  skidded  logs  on  an  average  80  logs 
a  day  with  two  men  the  oxen  and  myself,  but  the  ground  is  very 
rough  and  unfavorable;  pork  is  very  cheap  $'^.']2  for  100  lbs. 
Tom  and  I  talked  about  our  future  plans;  I  advocated  a  pro- 
gressive policy  to  put  up  every  stitch  of  canvass  before  the  breeze 
of  enterprise  which  would  either  waft  us  into  the  harbor  of  suc- 
cess and  wealth  or  into  that  of  bankruptcy.  About  this  time  (as 
hundreds  of  other  young    nen  have  done)  I  wrote   many  love 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  IO9 

£o:"inets  which  I  will,  however,  not  inflict  upon  the  reader.  Mrs. 
Grant  and  her  two  agreeable  daughters  olTered  to  make  what- 
ever pastry  we  might  need  for  Christmas.  Received  a  letter  from 
G.  Barclay  saying  that  Minnesota  was  a  grand  country  and  that 
we  ought  to  sell  out  and  go  there;  we  take  Harper's  Weekly 
one  of  the  best  illustrated  papers  in  the  U.  S.;  Ethel  received  a 
sewing  machine  from  her  father,  cost  $45.  As  we  had  no  work 
of  our  own  I  went  to  worK  at  Roussin's  shanty  for  cutting 
and  skidding  logs;  scrambled  a  mile  over  logs  and  through 
brushwood  till  we  reached  it  at  dawn,  but  found  that  they  had 
men  enough.  Have  at  last  received  Uncle  Richard's  approbation 
for  the  sale  of  the  cut  of  the  timber  on  our  lots  for  $500;  Roussin 
would  not  give  any  more  on  account  of  most  of  the  timber  being 
destroyed  by  hre  on  the  400  acres.  While  spending  an  evening 
at  Meredith's  Mrs.  Meredith  told  me  that  two  beautiful  young 
ladies  were  coming  to  visit  them  at  Christmas  and  said  I  must 
come  and  spend  a  few  days  at  their  house,  which  with  thanks  I 
accepted.  Received  a  letter  from  Fritz  Hogarth,  he  is  again  in 
his  native  land,  Germany,  but  thinks  of  returning  to  America, 
as  the  prospects  cannot  be  very  good  there.  "London — My 
dear  Tom  and  Arthur.  Your  dear  uncle  wishes  me  to  say  how 
pleasant  it  was  to  receive  your  last  letters  and  we  are  all  very 
glad  to  hear  that  your  farming  has  been  so  successful;  may  God 
bless  and  prosper  you  in  all  the  undertakings  in  the  approaching 
New  Year  is  our  prayer,  dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  your  affectionate 
aunt,  Margaret  Goldsmith."  In  .'i  letter  from  Uncle  J.  he  says, 
"Now  I  look  upon  you  two  lads  doing  a  great  service  to  the 
country,  you  are  redeeming  from  the  wilderness  a  great  property 
and  by  your  efforts  adding  forever  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
besides  making  a  most  honorable  provision  for  yourselves.;  every 
stroke  of  work  will  tell  to  your  honor  and  profit;  talk  of  soldiers, 
heroes  and  great  generals,  why  the  man  that  adds  one  acre  of 
land  towards  the  everlasting  support  of  the  people,  deserves  more 
honor  than  100  soldiers;  he  kills  no  fellow  creatures  makes  no 
widows  or  orphans,  but  adds  to  the  wealth  and  happiness  of  the 
land  he  lives  in;  although  officers  are  a  necessity  and  deserve 
some  honor  in  their  place.  We  have  more  frost  with  snow. 
Your  letters  were   only  received    this   morning,  the  postmaster 


i  lO  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

says  that  it  takes  from  12  to  14  days  for  a  letter  to  reach  it's  des- 
tination in  Canada;  your  farm  ought  soon  to  begin  to  pay,  but 
sooner  or  later  it  is  sure  to  do  so,  provided  you  work  for  your- 
selves, but  if  you  depend  on  paid  labor  you  mu^t  expect  to  be 
always  in  difficulties,  the  man  that  depends  on  the  labor  of 
others  is  in  danger  of  debt  and  live  a  most  un.satisfactoiy  life; 
labor  strengthens  the  body  and  contents  the  mind  as  well  as  fills 
a  man's  purse;  this  rule  hold>  good  in  everything  especially 
farming;  if  you  are  once  et  down  as  men  that  cannot  work  your- 
selves, every,  one  will  impose  upon  you.  Uncle  Richard  has 
made  me  very  unhappy  by  telling  me  that  your  Cousin  Richard 
is  in  consumption;  it  will  relieve  my  mind  to  hear  about  him. 
We,  like  you,  fear  that  Russia  is  so  aggressive  and  treacheious 
that  we  will  have  to  thrash  her  which  she  deserves  for  she  is  a 
cruel  and  diabolical  power;  we  also  expect  a  fresh  dissolution  of 
Parliament  and  a  fresh  election;  Russia  hopes  that  the  Whigs 
vi^ho  are  it's  friends  will  come  into  power  and  allow  it  to  continue 
it's  encroachments  towards  India.  The  son  of  the  Czar  and  the 
war  party  at  his  back  will  find  themselves  mistaken,  for  any  par- 
ty that  favored  Russian  aggression  could  not  remain  in 
power  in  England.  Your  aunt  is  playing  at  the  piano  and  sing- 
ing that  beautiful  hymi  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father."  We 
have  a  piano  also  in  the  dining  room,  your  aunt  is  so  fond  of 
music  and  we  have  so  many  visitors.  To-morrow  is  the  Lord 
Mayor's  day;  we  all  send  our  love  to  you  and  pray  God  to  keep 
and  guard  you  in  the  ways  of  truth,  love,  peace  and  happiness, 
your  most  affectionate  uncle,  J.  B.  Goldsmith."  ''Elmbrook  Dec. 
30th.  Dear  uncle.  Many  thanks  for  the  illustrated  papers  you 
sent  us.  I  write  to  you  on  a  subject  which  I  trust  will  not  dis- 
please you,  that  is  to  ask  your  consent  to  give  up  forming  and 
enter  some  military  college;  I  have  always  had  a  wish  to  enter 
the  army,  but  when  our  dear  mother  was  alive  I  could  not  think 
of  leaving  her  alone  so  that  when  Uncle  Richard  proposed  to  sell 
us  lots  34x35  I  decided  that  it  was  the  best  I  could  do,  as  we 
would  be  near  our  dear  mother;  after  her  death  however  I  could 
not  give  up  farming  until  we  had  paid  Uncle  Richard  for  the  lots, 
but  now  that  he  is  just  paid  I  feel  free  to  express  to  you  my  de- 
sire to  enter  an   English   military  college.     You  may  no  doubt 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  .      lU 

think  it  strange  that  I  should  wish  to  abandon  farming  after  hav- 
ing said  so  much  in  praise  of  it  to  you  in  my  letters;  I  have 
nothing  howe/er  to  complain  of  our  success  smce  we  settled  on 
the  lots,  as  they  are  worth  over  ^^2000  and  we  are  almost  out 
of  debt,  but  when  I  compare  the  society  of  ladies  and  gentleman 
with  that  of  the  people  around  here  i  am  disgusted  and  think 
what  is  the  use  of  living  in  this  world  without  a  perfect  educa- 
tion, without  which  the  greatest  happiness  of  man  is  lost,  namely 
the  true  enjoyment  of  associating  in  the  best  of  society;  I  know 
there  are  a  good  many  disadvantages  in  the  army,  the  worst  of 
which  is  that  a  person  might  be  maimed  and  have  to  live  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  a  miserable  and  almost  helpless  condition;  I  also 
know  that  the  army  is  no  place  for  one  who  is  not  willing  to  sac- 
rifice everything  for  his  own  and  his  country's  interests,  except 
his  honor,  but  I  will  willingly  undergo  an/  amount  of  hard- 
ship and  hard  study  to  raise  myself  to  a  useful  and  honorable 
position  of  ind  nendence;  there  is  a  military  college  at  Quebec 
where  those  th  t  enter  have  nearly  all  their  expences  paid  by  the 
government,  and  also  another  at  Kingston,  Ontario,  where  the 
cost  is  only  nominal,  I  would  however  prefer  to  pass  at  some 
English  military  college;  if  pleasing  to  you  I  would  give  Tom 
my  half  of  the  land  as  he  intends  to  continue  farming;  I  trust 
you  will  haVe  the  kindness  to  grant  my  request  and  I  assure  you 
I  shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  pass  a  successful  examination. 
We  spent  Christmas  sli  Uncle  Herberts;  the  snow  roads  are  in 
good  condition  but  the  weather  is  exceedingly  cold  as  much  as 
40  degrees  below  zero;  wishing  you  all  many  happy  returns  of 
the  season,  with  love  to  my  aunt  Rupert  and  yourself,  I  remain 
your  affectionate  nephew,  Arthur  N.  Harvey."  Wrote  also  to 
Uncle  Richard  on  the  same  subject.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Meredith  re- 
quest the  pleasure  of  Mr.  Thomas  and  Arthur  Howard's  com- 
pany on  Monday  evening  the  29th  at  }4  past  7  o'clock.  Staney 
Brae,  Dec.  26th  1876.  Went  to  the  party  with  Tom;  had  a  most 
enjoyable  time;  there  were  about  80  people  present;  after  dancing 
till  12  supper  was  then  served,  consisting  of  two  sorts  of  soup, 
three  sorts  of  meat,  fowls,  fish,  pastry  and  every  sort  of  cake  im- 
aginable, oysters,  numerous  sorts  of  fruit  and  nuts  for  dessert, 
in  fact  everything  that  couid  be  desired  except  wines  and  other 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

liquor,  as  Mr.  Meredith  is  a  strict  teetotaler;  had  the  .sitting  room 
and  the  drawing  room  to  dance  in;  some  of  the  aged  lacnes  and 
gentleman  played  whist  and  conversed  together.  On  New 
Year's  day  made  calls  on  all  my  Aston  friends  with  Mrs.  Will- 
oughby,  as  Rev.  L.  C's.  horse  is  sick;  Mien  called  on  Meredith's 
and  spent  a  delightful  afternoon,  skating  on  some  good  ice  close 
to  the  house,  also  tobogganmg  and  suowshoeing;  towards  even- 
ing had  music  and  smging;  Mabel  Willoughby  and  Miss  Bacon 
of  Toronto,  who  is  a  charming  young  lady  without  any  false  pride 
or  reserve  are  visiting  at  Meredith's;  aft.^r  dinner  a  party  of  us 
drove  to  an  amateur  theatrical  at  Pieston.  Went  to  a  church  so- 
cial next  day  held  in  the  school-house,  all  the  English  families 
contributed  the  necessary  amount  of  cake,  fruit  refreshments  etc- 
A  few  days  after  went  to  a  select  party  at  Meredith's.  Mave 
had  an  unceasing  round  of  festivities  for  the  last  three  weeks  in 
Aston  and  on  our  range  amongst  the  French.  W  hile  at  Uncle 
Herbert's  a  few  days  ago  they  said  much  in  disparagement  of 
this  part  of  the  country;  I  said  bush  farming  is  all  very  well  in  its 
way  for  men  that  are  capable  of  no  higher  occupation  than  that 
of  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a  drawer  of  water,  but  those  who  have 
higher  aspirations  should  devote  their  lives  to  higher  pursuits, 
and  supposing  we  do  spend  our  lives  here  and  become  wealthy 
what  advantage  would  it  be  to  us,  for  we  could  not  mix  in  good 
society  as  our  manners  would  be  too  coarse,  for  we  cannot  con- 
stantly come  in  contact  and  associate  with  vulgar  people  without 
deterioration  in  their  manners  and  character;  the  first  thing  a 
man  should  acquire  is  a  good  education;  a  man  may  lose  every- 
thing else  by  unforseen  circumstances  but  can  never  be  deprived 
of  a  good  education;  the  chief  cause  of  ignorance  and  vulgarity 
among  formers  as  a  class  is  because  it  is  possible  for  him  to  make 
a  living  without  education  or  being  a  gentleman;  in  most  other 
professions  man  must  of  necessity  have  a  good  education  and  be 
a  gentleman  to  succeed;  I  said  to  the  Goldsmith  boys  we  can 
trace  back  our  noble  ancestors  to  the  time  of  the  Crusaders,  yet 
think  how  low  our  branches  of  these  families  have  fallen  until 
we  are  to-day  little  better  than  common  laborers  and  with  our 
ordinary  education  and  vulgar  associations  can  never  expect  to 
rise  from  this  despicable  condition  unless  we  make  a  determined 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  113 

effort  to  do  so;  we  should  awake  to  the  sad  reaUty  '.hat  we  have 
just  arrived  at  the  threshold  of  manhood  and  have  scarcely  ac- 
corr>^>lishcd  anything.  While  spending  an  even.ng  at  Meredith's 
I  was  introduced  to  a  Mr.  Vansanford  and  his  daughter  he  owns 
a  large  farr.  at  Lexington,  which  is  a  fine  farming  country;  Miss 
V.  has  very  interesting  features,  but  is  very  delicate  and  as  "pale 
as  a  ghost."  Went  the  same  evening  with  a  large  party  of  As- 
ton ladies  and  gentlemen  to  a  ball  at  Preston;  next  day  joined  a 
party  of  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  at  skatmg,  on  Aston  river; 
in  the  afternoon  played  checkers  with  one  of  Aston's  champions, 
but  lost  three  games  out  of  five;  was  surprised  at  the  tasty  man- 
ner in  which  he  nad  turnished  his  house, with  articles  wi.^h  are  very 
rarely  seen  in  the  houses  of  the  lower  class;  forgot  to  mention 
that  a  fiiw  evenings  before  Christmas  I,  with  a  party  of  young 
gentleman  brought  a  load  of  evergreens  to  the  parsonage  where 
we,  aided  by  a  bevy  of  fair  young  ladies  to  make  wreaths  etc.  to 
decorate  the  church;  at  a  concert  in  the  Town  Hall,  comic  songs, 
humerous  readings,  duetts  and  songs  by  ladies  were  sung;  Mr. 
Bramult  was  the  greatest  gentleman  favorite;  a  Miss  Kate  Watts 
rjad  a  poem  by  Longfellow,  entitled  "Hiawatha,"  which  was  a 
decided  failure;  Florence  Meredith  sang  several  songs  and  re- 
ceived thunders  of  applause,  bemg  acknowledged  as  the  general 
favorite.  G's.  sent  us  a  present  of  some  pork,  having  killed  two 
pigs  that  weighed  over  700  lbs.  This  is  a  custom  among  the 
French  people  to  send  a  piece  of  whatever  animal  they  kill  to 
their  nearest  neighbors.  In  speaking  of  the  best  soldiers  of 
Europe  I  argued  that  French  soldiers  were  too  excitable,  too 
easily  elated  and  depressed  to  be  considered  as  the  best.  I  gave 
the  job  of  making  shingles  to  Louis  Brodeur,  and  to  do  the 
boarding  and  shingling  of  the  new  barn  for  ^40,  which  is  very 
cheap;  we  furnish  the  "cut"  of  the  cedar  and  of  course  the  boards 
and  nails  at  that  price.  The  campaign  in  Zululand  is  over  at  last; 
terrible  railway  catastrophe  in  Scotland;  largest  bridge  in  the 
world  gave  way,  precipitating  the  train  into  the  river  90  ft.  be- 
neath; 300  lives  lost.  15th  Jan.  1880,  lovely  weather,  not  enough 
snow  to  make  good  roads  in  the  woods,  where  it  requires  more 
snow  than  on  the  level   main   roads;  aunt  and  uncle  quizzed  me 

about  Florence  and  Maud,  told  them  that  if  lOO  people  were  fool- 

.  i6 


I  14  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

ish  enourh  to  quiz  me  It  would  not  prevent  me  from  enjoying^ 
their  charminfT  and  good  society,  or  that  of  any  other  amiable 
young  ladies  I  was  acquainted  wilh.  Cliinged  time  with  G's.  to 
help  them  to  cut  wood  with  their  sawing  machine;  most  of  the 
English  young  men  here  have  by  constant  association  with  the 
French  deteriorated  so  much  as  to  frequently  use  vulgar  and 
coarse  language;  there  is  one  feature  however  I  respect  in  the 
English  in  these  parts,  is  that  they  respect  the  presense  of  ladies 
and  women  and  never  utter  coarse  language  in  their  presence, 
which  is  more  than  I  can  say  for  the  French.  At  present  Tom 
and  I  are  drawing  lumber  to  the  sawmill  for  our  barn;  while  spen- 
ding an  evening  at  Andre  La  Rivere.s,  he  and  his  brother- in  law 
and  some  other  men  used  such  outrageously  indecent  and 
and  filthy  language  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  that  even  I,  ac- 
customed as  1  am  to  hearing  such  language  amongst  them,  was 
horrified;  I  would  not  have  thought  that  even  the  lowest  speci- 
mens of  humanity  could  utter  or  tolerate  such  language,  yet  this 
woman  seemed  greatly  amused  and  laughed  heartily  at  it,  yet 
they  are  the  most  devout  family  of  Catholics  on  this 
range  (12  miles  long)  as  the  reader  must  acknowledge  when  I 
tell  him  that  in  two  years  they  have  not  missed  one  Sunday  at 
church  or  failed  in  making  their  confessions  and  receiving  ab- 
solution, and  observe  all  the  holidays  and  feasts  in  a  most  rigid 
manner,  in  fact  they  are  considered  by  all  their  neighbors  as  the 
most  devout  and  pious  couple  that  live  on  this  nmge.  Oh  Ro- 
man Catholicism  !  with  your  teachings  and  discipline,  cannot 
make  nobler  men  and  women  than  what  I  have  seen  of  your  fol- 
lowers in  Quebec  or  read  of  them  in  Poland,  Austria  and  Spain, 
the  boasted  mfallibility  of  your  teachings  must  of  necessity  be  a 
mere  collection  of  fraudulent  lies  and  the  religion  of  the  majority 
of  your  followers  the  mere  performances  of  rites  and  ceremonies, 
in  place  of  a  beautiful  and  noble  life  which  is  far  more  pleasing 
to  God  than  all  your  hastily  muttered  prayers  and  prolonged 
feasts.  Have  papered  our  house.  "Montreal.  My  dear  Arthur. 
Nothing  could  have  given  me  greater  surprise  than  the  receipt 
of  your  letter,  in  fact  I  think  of  nothing  else,  and  I  hope  you 
will  pardon  me  when  I  tell  you  that  I  laughed  heartily  when  I 
first  read  your  sentiments  on  military  glory,  I  am  sure  that  your 


HliJTOKY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  II5 

Uncle  JciTold  or  any  one  that  knows  anything  of  mihtary  life 
will  tell  you  that  it  is  all  a  lie  and  in  reality  one  of  the  meanest 
professions  that  was  ever  studied,  that  man  who  can  practice  the 
greatest  amount  of  chicanery  and  deception,  makes  the  best  gen- 
eral, and  any  honest  man  in  the  army  to-day  will  tell  you  that 
{promotion  ^oc:i  by  fivor  to-day  as  it  always  did,  King  William, 
that  preceded  the  queen,  asked  an  old  lieutenant  why  he  was  so 
bald,  because  he  replied  "so  many  junior  members  of  the  pro- 
fession are  stepping  over  my  head."  A  young  man  in  the  army 
or  Udvy  to-day  vvitliout  influence  or  a  great  deal  of  money  stands 
a  poor  chance  of  promotun.  If  a  man's  country  is  in  need  of 
assistance  during  an  invasion  or  otherwise  there  are  times  lie 
may  bj  c.iUed  upon  to  serve,  but  that  has  never  been  the  case 
during  your  lifetime  or  mine;  during  the  present  time  there  are 
thousands  of  young  men  that  have  served  in  the  army  that  are 
walking  about  unfit  for  other  occupations;  were  I  to  go  to-day 
to  Llie  young  officers  in  the  different  branches  of  the  service,  I 
could  get  10,000  from  the  rank  of  captain  to  ensign  that  would 
be  delighted  to  change  positions  with  you,  I  could  get  the  same 
uainber  of  young  men  in  Montreal,  and  many  of  them  with  good 
salaries  that  v/ould  be  only  too  glad  to  jump  at  the  chance  you 
want  to  kick  from  under  your  feet.  Supposing  that  it  were 
possible  to  have  a  commission  placed  in  your  hand  to-morrow  I 
would  not  advise  you  to  accept;  why  did  Mr.  Bentley  leave  the 
service;  he  was  in  the  Royal  Engineers,  proving  that  he  was  a 
man  of  brilliant  abilities;  it  was  because  his  father  became  bank- 
rupt and  he  could  not  live  on  his  small  allowance;  why  did  your 
cousin  Fred  Sanford  leave  ?  because  his  private  income  was  not 
sutHcient;  besides  at  the  end  of  the  four  years  it  would  take  you 
to  pass,  you  would  be  too  old,  as  to  the  Canadian  service,  a  man 
would  be  foolish  indeed  to  trust  himself  to  their  tender  mercies. 
In  your  letter  you  ask  a  straightforward  question  will  I  consent? 
I  say  no,  neither  as  an  officer  or  as  a  private,  for  the  simple  rea- 
son that  you  would  soon  get  sick  of  it,  and  it  would  be  exposing 
you  to  many  unnecessary  temptations  that  you  are  now  free 
from;  in  your  present  position  your  regular  income  and  your 
prospects  are  excellent;  if  you  are  tired  of  the  locality  I  would 
not  be  opposed  to  your  moving,  but  do  not  throw  away  your  ad- 


Il6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

vantages  and  the  fruit  of  your  hard  work.  Should  you  and  Tom 
think  of  leaving  I  would  advise  you  to  divide  your  land  into 
four  lots  of  lOO  acres  each,  build  a  cottage  and  plant  an  orchard 
on  each,  and  I  will  have  no  difficulty  in  selling  them  for  you,  but 
this  I  would  not  do  if  I  were  in  your  place  without  your  Uncle 
Jerrold's  consent,  for  he  has  both  your  interests  at  heart  and 
loves  you  with  a  father's  love,  had  it  not  have  been  for  him  you 
and  I  might  have  been  in  different  circumstances  to-day,  you 
are  now  following  one  of  the  most  noble  and  honorable  of  all  pro- 
fessions, one  that  the  late  Prince  Albert  was  proud  to  cultivate; 
three  of  a  gentleman's  sons  in  Montreal  are  giving  up  their  sit- 
uations in  banks  and  going  on  farms  without  prospects  as  good 
as  you  have;  so  far  as  society  is  concerned  I  think  you  are 
tolerably  well  off;  there  are  some  very  nice  pople  in  Aston, 
Willoughby's  and  Meredith's;  as  far  as  the  matter  of  education, 
it  is  in  your  Ovvn  hands,  you  can  in  your  spare  moments  per- 
fect yourselves  in  all  the  higher  branches  of  education,  as  for  your 
manners  they  are  more  gentlemanly  and  graceful  than  those  of 
many  young  men  who  mix  in  the  best  society  in  Montreal;  the 
true  Christian  is  always  a  gentleman  and  that  of  the  purest  type, 
he  has  dignity  and  self-respect  without  pomposity  or  frivolity; 
he  has  natural  ease  which  always  gives  natural  grace;  as  to  your 
future  prospects  socially,  I  think  they  are  very  good;  then  you 
can  get  your  farm  improved  and  a  new  house  built,  I  can  intro- 
duce you  to  good  society  where  you  can  choose  a  nice  wife  with 
a  little  money,  that  will  be  always  useful  on  a  large  estate  like 
yours;  the  iact  is  Tom  and  you  have  been  working  too  hard  and 
living  too  economical  and  you  have  got  downhearted,  but  you 
must  shake  off  this  fit  of  the  blues  and  take  a  brighter  view  of 
things,  and  in  due  time  with  God's  aid  and  blessing  all  will  be 
well.  Your  Aunt  Mabel  and  Flora  unite  in  love;  I  forgot  to  say 
that  Flora's  husband  he.s  been  ordered  to  Michigan  by  the  rail- 
way authorities,  and  although  his  salary  as  manager  there  will  be 
greatly  increased  we  shall  feel  lonely  at  their  departure. 
Your  loving  uncle,  R.  J.  Goldsmith."  Richard  Bacon  who  is 
studying  for  the  ministry  says,  I  ought  to  study  for  law.  Daniel 
C.  has  gone  to  live  in  Montreal;  he  has  taken  a  photo  of  his  dear 
Alphosine  with  him  and  kissed   her  before  a  crowd  of  amused 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  II7 

spectators  on  the  railway  platform  before  leaving,  telling  her  to 
remain  "tonjours  fidele,"  Received  a  terribly  indignant  letter 
from  Uncle  Jcrrold  which  has  been  mislaid;  the  next  one  was  as 
follows.  "My  dear  nephews.  I  have  been  sorry  for  feeling  an- 
gry with  Arthur,  although  my  feelings  of  anger  arose  from  my 
love  for  you;  for  through  my  long  life  of  experience  I  have  al- 
ways found  that  the  man  who  cries  for  the  moon  is  the  most 
intolerable;  he  is  always  a  nuisance  to  himself  and  his  friends; 
I  mean  such  a  one  as  always  thinks  of  doing  impossibilities  and 
never  sticks  to  one  thing.  It  is  generally  caused  by  vanity  and 
an  idle  roving  disposition;  fellows  who  can  do  nothing  always 
tries  to  do  everything  and  nothing  cures  them.  And  finding 
dear  Arthur  before  he  has  perfected  his  education  writing  to  the 
public  papers  I  feared  he  was  wasting  his  strength  by  trying  to 
jump  to  the  top  of  the  house  instead  of  beginning  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs,  thousands  of  such  men  are  about  here  every  day  in 
rags  and  starvation.  To  be  truly  great  is  to  do  the  work  before 
you;  to  be  good  is  to  love  God  and  your  neighbors  and  be  con- 
tented. To  be  safe  it  to  Iiave  an  unwavering  faith  in  Christ. 
Mistaken  ambition  and  misapplied  energy  has  been  the  ruin  of 
half  the  world;  so  I  beseech  you  my  dear  boys  to  beware  of  cry- 
ing for  the  moon  like  senseless  children,  and  if  you  should  take 
it  into  your  heads  to  do  anything  great  or  glorious  try  the  first 
steps  of  the  ladder  or  you  will  be  sure  to  fall  never  to  rise  again, 
which  God  forbid.  The  ground  here  is  covered  with  snow  and 
we  suffer  a  great  deal  more  from  cold  in  England  than  you  do 
because  we  are  not  provided  against  it;  our  stoves  and  fireplaces 
are  all  small;  Rupert  is  on  a  visit  at  Wissenden  Hill,  Trow- 
bridge Wells,  Kent.  I  shall  be  glad  to  get  letters  from  you 
about  your  farms  and  all  the  news,  your  Aunt  Margaret  likes  to 
have  me  read  them  to  her;  and  I  like  them  too  for  they  are  good 
clever  letters  and  most  interesting  to  us;  your  aunt  unites  with 
me  in  kindest  love  to  all;  and  always  believe  me  your  sincere 
friend  and  loving  uncle,  Jerrold  Goldsmith."  Notwithstanding 
these  good  kind  letters  I  cannot,  and  will  not  give  up  my  pro^ 
ject,  not  at  least  until  I  have  positive  proof  that  it  is  utterly  un- 
feasible,  5o  I  have  written  at  greater  length  to  both  my  uncles, 
and  to  the  colleges  at  Quebec — West  Point  and  Kingston.     Jan. 


1  l8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

I4tli.  "My  dear  Arthur.  Doherty  called  and  paid  the  balance, 
which  leaves  a  bill  due  by  you  on  your  lots  of  $130.  I  was 
amused  at  your  ide^s  of  the  requisites  to  get  on  in  the  army,  if 
you  suppose  that  the  best  men  are  promoted  or  that  promotion 
goes  by  merit  you  never  made  a  greater  mist£d\e  in  your  life; 
why  is  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  the  commander-  in  chief  of  the 
British  army.  Lord  Chelmsford  sent  to  South  Africa,  or  even 
why  did  the  Iron  Duke  get  command  of  the  army  in  Portugal, 
because  the  Marquis  of  Wellsley  was  hi)  brother  and  had  a  seat 
in  the  House  of  Peers.  There  are  very  few  persons  by  force  of 
character  get  on  in  England,  P" ranee  or  the  United  States;  nor 
you  cannot  name  a  single  man  that  has  got  on  in  modern  times 
in  the  United  States  or  P"* ranee  that  has  not  been  educated  at 
West  Point  or  the  PIcole  Polytechnic.  During  Napoleon's  time 
it  was  different,  yet  f;ven  he  had  a  first  class  military  education, 
was  trained  *'to  arms"  from  his  earliest  bovhood,  and  in  his  first 
career  was  backed  up  by  Madame  De  Stael  and  soii">e  of  the  first 
women  of  the  P2mpire;  it  is  true  he  had  the  genius  10  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  situations;  he  took  the  tide  at  the  flood  and  led 
on  to  fortune.  How  many  millions  have  perished  under  hun 
whose  history  is  unknown,  who  probably  may  have  been  more 
worthy  in  ever/  respect.  Lord  Chelmsford  acknowledging  his 
incompetentency  in  the  Zulu  war  has,  or  is  about  to  have,  a 
command  given  him  over  the  heads  of  other  men,  but  in  your 
case  it  is  entirely  out  of  the  question,  you  would  be  too  old  as  I 
have  said  before,  at  the  expiration  of  the  four  years  study;  I  think, 
18  is  the  age,  and  for  the  whole  of  Canada  the  ]3ritish  Govern- 
ment only  gives  four  appointments  each  year;  one  for  the  engin- 
eers, one  for  the  cavaliy  and  one  for  infantry;  this  according  to 
merit  out  of  300  or  400  applicants.  We  are  all  well  here;  I  hope 
to  see  you  in  P'ebruary;  I  am  glad  you  have  made  the  house  so 
comfortable;  I  trust  you  have  raised  sufficient  wheat  and  vege'.a- 
bles  for  yourselves;  your  aunt  has  a  splendid  receipt  for  curing 
meat.  I  suppose  you  heard  of  the  death  of  the  wife  of  your  uncL' 
Dr..  Goldsmith  in  Ireland.  With  love  to  Tom  believe  me  to 
remain  your  affectionate  unc'e,  R.  I.  Goldsmith."  Carmicheal's 
have  allowed  lumbermen  to  live  in  the  English  school  house  but 
have  told  them  they  cannot  stay  there  unless  they  pay  a  suttlcient 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  II9 

sum  to  have  it  insured  in  case  it  was  burnt  throufjh  c-irelessness. 
Father,  one  evening  I  was  going  to  Aston,  quizzed  me  about 
Florence,  which  I  told  him  was  a  very  ungentlemanly  and  a  low, 
mean  habit,  that  for  my  part  I  did  not  care,  but  that  idle  rumor 
might  reach  her  cars  and  cause  her  pain,  for  ladies  are  more 
sensitive  than  gentlemen;  also  that  no  true  gentleman  should 
use  language  that  might  possibly  hurt  a  lady's  feelings;  that  it 
was  riglit  that  young  gentleman  should  take  pleasure  in  the  so- 
ciety of  young  ladies  apart  from  any  motive  of  love,  for  that 
gentle  and  graceful  manners  refine  and  add  grace  to  the  harsh- 
er and  rougher  manners  of  young  men.  Alas !  why  promise, 
strive  and  hope,  and  still  go  on  from  bad  to  worse;  unhappy  is 
the  wretched  man  that  cannot  guide  himself  aright,  but  slowly 
drifts  on  rocks  and  strands;  truly  his  is  a  wrecked  and  ignoble 
life.  Skidded  logs  for  J.  Murphy  with  our  oxen;  he  has  taken  a 
large  contract  from  the  proprietor  of  a  steam  saw  mill  at  Rich- 
ford.  Tom  is  drawing  ties  by  the  100  and  I  am  chopping  cord- 
wood;  went  to  several  church  socials  where  the  refreshments 
consist  of  cake  and  coffee;  the  ladies  chiefly  favor  the  company 
with  singing  and  music,  the  gentlemen  by  humorous  readings 
and  recitations.  Have  lately  got  a  boy  from  Norfolk  Distrib- 
uting Home.  Sold  Guertin  some  Elm  trees  at  40  cents  a  tree. 
Herbert  C  is  in  love  with  Margaret  Guernsey;  told  me  he  pre- 
fers her  to  Cousin  Ethel  for  the  latter  is  too  "stuck  up;"  perhaps 
the  reason  he  thinks  so  is  because  she  will  not  tolerate  his  vul- 
garity. Houde's  eldest  son  has  been  married.  Daniel  C.  was 
"garcon  de  honeur"  with  Alphosine  as  "fiUe  de  honeur;"  at  the 
festivities  in  the  evening  one  of  the  women  guests  was  so  over- 
come with  intoxicants  that  she  had  to  be  carried  out  of  the  room 
where  the  dancing  was  going  on;  in  justice  however  I  must  say 
that  such  cases  are  not  numerous  among  the  French  I  have 
associated  with;  a  French  club  has  been  started,  it  has  a  very 
fine  building  with  reading  room,  billiard  room  and  private  rooms 
for  meetings,  some  of  its  not  active  members  arc  English,  but  I 
think  it  shows  very  little  spirit  on  their  part  to  submit  the  list 
of  books  they  intend  to  purchase,  to  the  parish  priest  for  his 
approval  before  buying  them,  yet  of  course  they  are  not  so  much 
to  blame;   for  a  literary  society  started    in  an  adjoining  village 


I20  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

met  its  death  through  not  submittinjj  to  the  dictation  of  the 
priest,  for  they  bouglrt  some  works  of  an  infidel  tendency  ind 
were  ordered  to  remove  them  from  their  hbrary  which  much  to 
their  cre^'it  they  refused  to  do,  the  priest  however  was  not  to  be  de- 
feated and  in  the  parish  church  next  Sunday  advised  all  young 
men  that  were  good  Catholics  to  have  nothmg  more  to  do  with 
an  association  that  kept  in  their  library  books  that  ridiculed  the 
doctrines  of  their  "holy  church"  the  consequence  was,  the  ranks 
of  the  association  was  daily  thinned  by  deserters,  but  of  course 
the  poor  fellows  cannot  be  blamed  so  much,  for  any  young  man 
who  should  boldly  stand  up  in  defiance  of  the  "Holy  priesthood" 
would  suddenly  be  brought  to  his  knees  in  penitent  iiumiliation; 
by  first  refusing  to  him  the  '"Holy  Sacrament"  for  any  man 
incurring  this  penality  is  looked  upon  as  worse  than  the  vilest 
criminal,  and  is  immediately  shunned  with  holy  horror  by  all 
his  countrymen,  the  reader  must  acknowledge  that  the  average 
man  has  not  the  moral  courage  to  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of 
truth,  the  fellowship  c.nd  respect  of  all  his  nearest  and  dearest 
friends,  and  place  himself  in  the  cruel  position  of  being  in  the 
condition  of  an  exile  in  his  native  land;  there  were  however  a 
few  noble  spirits  in  the  association  who  preferred  liberty  to  any- 
thing else,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  they  might  almost  as  well 
have  tried  to  kick  against  an  iron  wall  as  against  the  priesthood;, 
for  they  had  to  suffer  that  quiet  form  of  persecution  tnat  is  al- 
most equivalent  to  that  of  former  ages.  I  was  myself  personal- 
ly acquainted  with  one  of  them,  a  very  moral  and  intelligent 
young  man  who  kept  the  best  store  in  the  village;  but  from  that 
day  that  he  was  man  enough  to  claim  for  himself  the  God-given 
privilege  of  liberty,  his  custom  gradually  dwindled  away  and 
I  he  young  lady  to  whom  he  was  engaged  turned  him  from  her 
fuher's  house;  he  was  truly  an  exile  in  his  own  country,  and 
shunned  and  despised  by  the  friends  and  playmates  of  his  child- 
hood; with  a  burning  contempt  and  hate  for  such  a  religion  he 
came  to  the  United  States,  a  land  of  liberty  and  progress,  even 
though  freethinkers  and  heretics  are  so  numurojs  in  it.  13th  of 
Feb.  If  this  snow  continues  it  will  put  an  end  to  sleighing. 
On  Sunday  the  two  Miss  Guernsey's  visited  us;  their  style  of 
conversation  was  something  like  this — I  like  them  style  of  cups 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  12 1 

I  aint  going  to;  you  dont  say !  well  I  declare;  dear  me;  did  you 
ever  ?  this  tea  is  awful  strong;  oh  my !  well  well !  and  their 
laugh  was  like  the  report  of  a  Woolich  infant;  of  course  I  like 
to  hear  ladies  laugh  when  it  is  like  the  music  of  a  silver  bell; 
but  harsh  discordant  giggling  laughter  is  disagreeable  even  in 
the  most  beautiful  of  women.  Have  read  Rokeby,  one  of  Sir 
W.  Scotts  poems  which  Florence  advised  me  to  read,  it  is  her 
favorite.  Three  Irish  Canadian  feminine  friends  visited  us  from 
Richford,  the  wife  of  a  tavern  keeper  and  her  two  daughters,  so 
highly  perfumed  that  it  pervaded  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the 
parlor,  after  they  had  been  within  it  for  a  few  moments;  but  one 
cannot  approach  within  lo  ft  of  the  mother  without  smelling  an 
abominable  odor  of  gin,  the  poor  woman  is  a  hard  drinker,  but 
is  nevertheless  endowed  with  one  of  the  warmest  Irish  hearts  I 
ever  met.  I  merely  mention  this  to  show  that  no  man  who  truly 
loves  the  honor  of  his  family  or  the  interests  of  humanity,  should 
engage  in  this  traffic  of  selling  slow  poison  to  his  fellowmen;  it 
also  reminds  me  of  a  striking  imaginary  comparison  my  father 
made  of  it,  that  'all  spirituous  liquor  was  the  blood  of  the  devil." 
Received  numerous  valentines,  some  very  flattering  and  nice, 
and  some  very  disagreeaple  ones.  I  often  spend  an  evening 
with  Mr.  Mc  Dougall  at  Checkers,  was  introduced  to  his  daugh- 
ter who  is  on  a  visit  there;  and  had  "an  evening  at  cards."  She 
is  a  very  affable  and  agreeable  young  lady;  father  has  been  ad- 
vising me  not  Lo  try  and  enter  the  army,  but  to  study  for  law. 
We  have  some  trouble  in  driving  one  of  our  young  horses  with 
an  older  one;  have  to  equalize  their  strength  by  shortening  the 
Whipple  tree  on  the  oldest  horses  side.  Uncle  Herbert  asked  me 
in  a  contemptuous  sort  of  a  way  what  young  ladies  I  would  go 
to  see  now  that  the  Miss  Meredith's  had  gone  to  college;  I  felt 
like  telling  him  it  was  none  of  his  business,  but  this  would  never 
do,  for  greyjiairs  must  and  ought  to  be  respected  even  if  they  do 
grow  on  the  heads  of  clowns  and  donkeys.  The  Socialists  have 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  blow  up  the  Czar  of  Russia. 
Have  borrowed  books  from  father  on  chemistry,  practical  geo- 
desy, trigonometrical  surveying,  geometry,  mensuration,  and 
other  books  pertaining  to  the  profession  of  civil  engineer,  am 
also  taking  lessons  in  French  and  of  late  have  made  it  a  practice 

16 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

to  read  only  French  newsphpers  which  is  a  moans  of  perfecting 
my  knoA^ledge  of  their  language;  had  a  conversation  with  father 
on  the  cruel  harshness  of  the  christian  society  of  the  present  day 
in  keeping  true  and  good  men  and  women  out  of  its  select  circles 
because  of  a  slight  difference  in  their  social  standing,  that  I 
hoped  to  see  the  day  when  the  leading  spirits  ot  the  best  of  so 
ciety  will  say  to  all  good  men  and  women  our  circle  is  open  to 
all  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  have-  cultivated  manners  and  are 
good  men  and  women,  and  we  will  not  exclude  you  even  though 
you  cannot  afford  diamon^'ls  :md  costly  silk;  how  many  noble 
and  elegant  ladies  are  duv^.i  to  despair  and  ruin  tlirough 
being  shunned  by  their  former  christian  friends,  after  the  un- 
avoidable bankruptcy  of  their  husbands  or  fathers;  is  it  not  the 
place  of  their  wealthy  lady  friends  to  come  to  them  and  say,  we 
insist  upon  your  still  moving  and  associating  in  our  circle  of 
friends,  even  if  you  come  in  the  plainest' and  coarsest  of  apparel, 
for  although  we  admire  and  appreciate  beautiful  and  costly  ap- 
parel o'jr  greatest  admiration,  love  and  respect  is  reserved  for  the 
grand  and  God-like  attributes  with  which  the  characters  of  every 
good  man  and  woman  are  endowed,  and  would  it  not  be  the 
duty  of  these  ladies  the  victims  of  some  unavoidable  calamity  to 
have  the  moral  courage  to  wear  only  that  style  of  apparel  suited 
to  their  reduced  means  and  lAso  to  associate  with  as  much  ease 
and  grace  among  their  richer  friends  as  formerly;  and  the  duty 
of  all  gentleman  to  be  as  gracious  to  the  poor  lady  as  to  the 
richer  one,  to  show  all  men  that  they  have  greater  admiration 
for  true  worth  of  character  than  for  costly  dianjonds  or 
silks  or  satins.  It  is  an  outrage  to  the  better  sentiments  of 
mankind  and  contrary  to  the  beautiful  maxims  and  precepts  of 
Christ;  for  the  christian  society  of  the  present  day  tolerate  in  its 
midst  vulgar  and  unprincipled  men  and  women  who  have  risen 
to  ignoble  wealth  through  defrauding  their  fellow  men,  and  yet 
at  the  same  time  refuse  admittance  to  the  honorable  men  and 
women  of  the  poorer  classes,  but  I  must  not  omit  mentioning 
one  of  their  most  cruel  and  unjust  rules,  that  of '"visiting  the  sins 
of  the  father"  on  his  innocent  offspring,  for  instance,  the  children 
of  gamblers;  uvindlers,  drunkards  etc.  are  not  tolerated  in  the 
society  of  the  children  of  the  better  classes,  good   society  has  no 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  123 

plac.  jr  them,  they  must  either  have  no  society  at  all  or  mix 
with  the  vilest  of  the  vile,  this  is  a  cruel  injustice,  for  in  many 
instances  the  innocent  wife  and  children  of  such  villians  love  and 
admire  what  is  good  and  true,  and  the  cliildren  would  become 
noble  and  useful  members  of  society  if  the  christian  society  of 
the  present  day  were  not  so  int(;lerant  and  cruelly  select;  why 
should  the  host  and  hostess  of  that  ciiristian  mansion  that  is  to 
be  the  scene  of  a  delightful  party  to-night,  in  sending  out  their 
invitations,  pass  over  the  names  of  the  wife  and  children  of  a  no- 
torious drunkard  and  gambler,  who  live  but  y^  a  block  away 
and  who  is  nobly  doing  her  utmost  to  educate  her  children  to 
become  useful  and  honorable  members  of  society;  would  it  not 
be  far  more  God-like  to  receive  them  occasionally  with  a  hearty 
welcome  to  their  stately  christian  homes,  and  show  the  poor 
children  of  th.it  gambler  the  beautiful  fruits  of  industry  and  vir- 
tue, and  would  It  not  be  more  Christ  like  for  them  to  say  to 
iheir  children,  whenever  you  meet  the  children  of  that  gambler, 
our  neighbor,  be  just  as  polite  and.  gracious  to  tiiem  as  if  they 
were  the  children  of  the  greatest  gentleman  '\n  this  city; 
they  are  trying  to  be  good  and  true  men  and  women  ,and 
It  IS  your  duty  with  your  greater  advantages  to  do  all  in 
your  power  to  help  them  you  must  exert  to  the  utmost 
all  your  influence  to  make  them  become  refined  ladies 
and  gentlemen  by  gently  reproving  and  teaching  them  the 
usages  of  the  best  society,  and  make  it  your  duty  to  give  them 
your  perfections  without  acquiring  any  of  their  imperfections; 
would  not  mankind  generally  be  much  nobler  and  happier  from 
such  a  course  of  instruction  than  from  that  which 
most  Christians  give  their  children  of  the  present  day,  viz:  "My 
dear  children  yt^u  must  not  speak  to  the  children  of  that  low, 
depraved  gambler."  Thus  the  followers  of  the  meek  and  lowly 
Jesus  build  up  an  almost  insurmountable  wall  between  what  is 
good  and  true  and  what  is  wicked  and  depraved  and  because 
poor  innocent  litde  children  are  born  on  the  wrong  side  of  that 
wall,  they  (instead  of  doing  all  in  their  power  to  aid  the  poor 
little  innocents  to  cross  over  it)  by  their  inhuman  indifference 
and  pride  keep  millions  of  their  fellow  creatures  on  the  wrong 
side.     Truly  their  Christianity  must  be  with  the  majority  of  them 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

almost  a  dead  letter  when  "Christ's  head  of  the  church"  would 
bles«5  cruel  Phihp  of  Spain  and  persecute  noble. Gallieo;  or  when 
the  enlightened  Protestants  would  bow  humbly  to  such  as  the 
Duchess  of  Hamilton  and  pass  without  notice  the  virtuous  and 
good  women  of  an  humbler  position  in  life;  or  Christ's  so  called 
priesthood  bless  such  a  woman  as  the  degraded  Isabella  of  Spain 
and  burn  to  death  such  a  glorious  woman  as  Joan  of  Arc. 
Father,  however,  only  partially  agreed  with  me;  said  that  some 
unfortunate  beings  were  judged  too  harshly  by  society,  who 
does  not  always  take  into  consideration  that  many  children  are 
led  astray  by  evil  associations  as  well  as  inheriting  very  often 
the  failings  of  their  parents,  ist  March;  the  snow  is  nearly  all 
gone.  While  at  Merediths,  Mrs.  M's.  mother  came  into  the 
room  to  get  the  Orange  Sentijiel,  an  Orangeman  publication, 
published  in  Ontario;  she  spoke  to  me  as  follows.  "Oh,  how 
har  you,  Mishter  Howard.  Shure  its  a  long  time  since  I  saw 
you.  What  splindid  weather  this  is."  I  saw  plainly  that 
Nicholas  was  on  thorns,  and  he  cut  her  conversation  short  by 
asking  her  to  have  the  kindness  to  leave  us  alone  as  we  were 
about  to  play  a  game  of  chess.  There  are  few  families  in  the 
world  that  have  not  a  skeleton  in  the  closet.  Nicholas  since  he 
has  been  to  college  is  not  so  choice  in  his  language  and  must 
have  met  some  wild  young  felldws  there;  he  is,  however,  I  am 
glad  to  say,  a  model  of  politeness  before  his  mother  and  sisters; 
in  my  opinion  he  is  too  much  petted  by  his  mother.  Read 
"Handy  Andy,"  one  of  the  most  laughable  books  I  ever  read. 
5th  March;  inquired  the  price  of  steers  i  year  old,  for  Richard's 
farm;  they  ranged  from  $Z  to  $\2.  8th  of  March;  was  very 
warm  and  close  the  first  part  of  the  night,  froze  towards  morn- 
ing and  commenced  to  snow  this  forenoon.  The  inhabitants 
have  commenced  to  tap  their  sugar  bushes.  Received  an 
answer  from  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  U.  S.  saying  that  there 
would  be  no  vacancies  for  foreign  appointments  till  1882,  so 
that  destroys  all  prospects  of  my  entering  West  Point.  I  had 
written  to  that  college  and  received  a  prospectus.  If  I  am  too 
old  to  enter  the  Canadian  or  English  colleges,  I  shall  have  to 
abandon  the  idea.  Father  has  had  only  6  bushel  of  wheat  from 
3  sown;  this  sort  of  farming  does  not  pay.    The  following:  con- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  12$ 

versation  occurred  between  Tom  and  a  Frenchman  in  the 
dining-room  while  I  am  writing  this,  so  I  record  some  of  the 
Frenchman's  remarks:  "This  is  cold  weather  for  boots  like 
mine.  I  just  called  in  to  light  my  pipe.  My  feet  are  nearly 
frozen,  the  d — d  shoemaker  made  my  boots  too  tight;  I  should 
have  moccasins.  I  do  not  like  Canadian  tobacco.  I  am  glad 
1  am  finished  swamping  rails,  for  it  is  d — d  mean  work;  I  came 
near  gettinq;  my  horses'  legs  broke  amongst  the  roots  and  rocks; 
some  of  the  rails  I  had  to  draw  on  my  back  as  far  as  ^  of  an 
acre.  You'll  have  more  timber  than  you  need  for  your  barn 
from  390  logs.  I  have  sold  my  rails  to  Frechette  for  ^4.50  a 
hundred,  he  ships  them  to  the  old  parishes  where  he  gets  a  big 
price,  he  also  ships  squared  timber  for  the  frames  of  barns  and 
houses.  While  at  Houdes  the  other  evening,  Alphosine  acci- 
dently  tread  on  her  brother's  toe  and  he  made  a  most  disgust- 
ingly vile  remark.  Extract  from  a  letter  to  Uncle  Jerrold:  **A 
man  requires  the  society  of  gentlemen  and  lady  friends  to  be  a 
perfect  gentleman,  education  alone  is  not  sufficient;  even  sup- 
posing I  had  a  perfect  education,  I  could  not  pass  my  life 
among  the  vulgar  people  that  surround  us  without  contracting 
some  of  their  vulgar  habits  aud  ungramatical  language.  Every 
day  of  our  lives  we  hear  vile  and  degrading  language  and  the 
most  gross  breaches  of  the  usages  of  the  best  society  of  the 
present  day.  Now  if  I  was  a  man  with  a  will  of  iron,  muscles  of 
steel  and  the  heart  of  a  diamond,  I  might  not  be  influenced  by 
such  associations,  but  no  ordinary  man  situated  as  we  are  could 
pass  his  life  among  such  associations  without  undergoing  a 
terrible  deterioration.  Recived  a  letter  from  Uncle  Jerrold,  in 
which  he  said  I  was  jackenapes  and  that  some  of  my  ideas  were 
diabolical.  According  to  newspapers  the  Nihilists  of  Russia  aim 
at  the  overthrow  of  religion  as  well  as  that  of  the  Emperor. 
Received  an  answer  from  my  letter  to  Woolich.  "Horse 
Guards  War  Office.  Sir:  I  am  directed  by  the  Field  Marshal, 
Commander-in  chief,  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  the  2 1st  ultimo,  addressed  to  the  Governor  of  the  Royal 
Military  Academy,  and  acquaint  you  in  reply  that  a  British 
Canadian  is  eligible  for  admission  to  the  British  Army.  The 
regulations  for  admission  to  the  Royal  Military  College  and  the 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Royal  Military  Academy  are  enclosed  and  will  give  you  all  the 
iniformation  you  require.  I  am  to  add  that  the  pay  of  a  2nd 
Lieut,  in  the  infantry  is  5  s.  3  d.  per  day.  I  am,  sir,  your 
obedient  .servant,  J.  N.  A.  Dillion."  General  Regulations  for 
the  Government  of  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at  Woolich  : 
The  Royal  Military  Academy  is  maintained  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  a  preparatory  education  to  candidates  for  the  Royal 
Artillery  and  Royal  Engineers.  This  education  will  be  chiefly 
technical  and  will  in  no  obligatory  subject  be  carried  beyond  the 
point  useful  to  both  corps  alike.  Regulations  for  admission,  &c.: 
Admission  to  the  Royal  Military  Academy  as  cadets  Avili  be 
granted  to  the  successful  candidates  at  an  open  competitive 
examination.  The  examinations  will  be  conducted  by  the  Civil 
Service  Commissioners,  and  will  be  held  twice  a  year,  namely, 
in  Dec.  and  July.  Notice  will  be  given  from  time  to  time  of  the 
day  and  place  of  examinations  and  for  the  vacancies  to  be  com- 
peted for  at  each  examination.  The  limits  of  age  will  be  from 
16  to  18;  the  candidates  being  required  to  be  within  these  limits 
on  the  first  day  of  Jan.  next,  following  the  winter  examination; 
and  on  the  ist  of  July  for  the  summer  examination.  The  can 
didates  for  admission  to  the  Dec.  or  July  examination  must  send 
to  the  military  secretary,  and  later  than  the  15th  of  Oct.  or  15th 
of  May  respectively  an  application,  to  be  accompanied  by  the 
following  papers:  {a.)  An  extract  from  the  register  of  his  birth, 
or  in  default,  a  declaration  made  by  one  of  his  parents  or  guar- 
dians before  a  magistrate,  giving  his  exact  age;  (/;.)  A  certificate 
of  good  moral  character,  signed  by  one  of  his  tutors,  or  the  heads 
of  the  schools  and  colleges  where  he  has  been,  and  at  which  he 
received  his  education  from  his  12th  year  to  the  date  of  appli- 
cation, or  some  other  satisfactory  proof  of  his  good  moral  char- 
acter. The  number  of  trials  will  not  exceed  three.  All  candi- 
dates will  be  inspected  by  the  Medical  board,  and  no  candidate 
will  be  allowed  to  proceed  to  examination  by  the  commissioners 
unless  certified  by  the  board  to  be  free  from  bodily  defects  ail- 
ments, and  in  all  respects  as  to  height  and  physical  qualities, 
fit  for  Her  Majesty's  service.  Cases  of  exceptional  short- 
ness will  be  refered  to  the  War  Office  for  special  con  - 
sideration.        Candidates     will     be    required     to    satisfy    the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  12/ 

coniiiiissloncrs  in  the  followinfj ^subjects:  (ist.)  Mathematics, 
viz:  (a)  Arithmatic  and  the  use  of  common  logarithms;  (d.) 
Algebra,  including  equations,  progressions,  permutations, 
and  combinations  and  the  binomial  therein;  (c.)  Geometry  up  to 
the  standard  of  the  6th  book  of  Kuclid;  (//)  Plane  Trigonometry 
including  the  solution  of  triangles;  2nd.  French,  German  or 
some  other  modern  language  the  examination  being  limited  to 
translation  from  the  language  and  gramatical  questions;  3rd. 
Writing  English  correctly  in  a  good  legible  hand  froni  dictation 
and  English  composition;  4th.  Ihe  elements  of  Geometrical 
drawing,  including  the  construction  of  plane  scales  and  the  use 
of  simple  mathematical  instruments;  5th.  Geography;  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  each  of  the  four  branches  of  Mathematics  will  be 
required.  The  commissioners  may,  however,  if  they  think  fit, 
dis[)cnse  with  this  preliminary  examination  except  as  regards 
Mathematics.  English  composition  and  Geometrical  drawing  in 
case  of  my  candidate  who  has  satisfied  them  on  a  previous  oc- 
casion. No  marks  will  be  allowed  for  the  above  preliminary  ex- 
amination excepting  for  Mathemetics  (2,000);  for  English  com- 
position, (500)  and  for  Geometrical  drawing,  (300).  The  future 
examination  will  be  proceeded  with  immediately  on  conclusion 
of  the  preliminary  examination.  Candidates  who  fail  in  their 
preliminary  examination  will  be  informed  of  their  failure  as  soon 
as  possible  and  they  will  be  released  from  further  attendance. 
The  subjects  of  the  further  examination  and  the  maximum  num- 
ber of  marks  obtainable  for  each  subject  will  be  as  follows:  ist. 
Mathametics,  viz:  Further  questions  and  problems  on  the  subjects 
of  the  qualifying  examination  and  the  elements  of  the  following 
subjects:  Theory  of  Equations,  Analytical  Geometry,  Conic  Sec- 
tions, Solid  Geometry,  Differential  and  Integral  Calculus,  Statics 
and  Dyn  unics.  N.  B.  In  all  subjects  great  importance  will  be 
attached  to  accuracy  in  numerial  results;  2d.  English  and  Eng- 
lish literature,  limited  to  specified  authors  and  English  history 
limited  to  fixed  periods  being  notified  before  hand  (2.000)  num- 
bers required  in  Mathematics,  (2,000)  in  English;  3rd.  Classics, 
viz:  Latin  or  French,  a  candidate  will  not  be  allowed  to  take  up 
both,  (2,oco)  marks  in  each  of  these;  4th.  French,  the  examina- 
tion to  be  partly  colloquial,  (2,000);  5th.  German,  the  examination 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

to  be  partly  colloquial,  (2,000);  6th.  Italian,  Russian,  Spanish  or 
Hindoostan,  either  of  these  at  option,  the  examination  to  be 
partly  colloquial;  7th.  Experamental  science,  viz:  {a.)  Chemistry 
and  heat  or  (/\)  Electricity  and  magnetism,  (2,000)  marks  in 
these  as  well  as  the  optional  languages;  8th.  General  and  Phys- 
ical Geography  and  Geology,  (2,000);  9th.  Drawing  free  hand. 
A  certain  number  will  be  deducted  from  the  marks  gained  by 
the  candidate  in  the  preliminary  examination  in  Mathematics, 
English  composition  and  Geometrical  drawing.  The  resulting 
total  will  determine  the  candidate's  place  in  the  competitive  list. 
The  successful  candidates  being  those  who  stand  first  on  the  list 
up  to  the  number  of  vacancies  competed  for.  Optional  subjects 
in  Mathematics.  Detailed  syllabus.  Further  questions  and 
problems  on  the  subjects  of  the  qualifying  examination.  Theory 
of  equations,  first  principals  witn  easy  exercises.  Analytical 
Geometry;  problems  on  straight  line  and  circle  Conic  Sections; 
Elementray  properties  with  easy  problems,  both  on  Analytical 
and  Geometrical  methods;  Differential  Calculus,  Differentiation 
of  functions  of  one  independent  variable;  Taylor's  and  McLen- 
rin's  theorens,  applications;  Maxima  and  Minima  ot  Functions 
of  one  independent  variable;  method  of  Infintesmals,  first  princi- 
ples with  easy  applications;  tangents  and  normals  to  curves; 
involutes  and  envolutes;  Integral  calculus;  Elementray  integra- 
tions; intregation  considered  as  summation;  rectification  and 
quadrature  of  plane  curves  Statics;  equilibrium  of  forced  and 
comples  in  one  plane;  friction,  center  of  gravity;  mechanical 
powers;  problems  on  Elementary  Statics;  the  Graphical  or  Geo- 
metrical method  of  treating  such  problems  should  be  studied  as 
well  as  the  Analytical  to  applications  of  the  differental  calculeus 
will  be  required;  Dynamics,  Elementray  principals  projecticals; 
motion  of  a  heavy  particle  on  a  smooth  curve;  centrifugal 
force;  simple  pendulum,  problems  and  exercises.  No  applica- 
citionsofthe  differential  calculus  will  be  required.  Terms  of 
payment  for  cadets  at  the  Royal  Military  Academy  are  regulated 
by  the  following  articles  of  Her  Majesty's  warrant  of  Dec,  1870. 
for  the  pay  and  promotion  of  the  army.  The  payment  on  behalf 
of  a  cadet  is  as  follows:  for  the  son  of  an  officer  in  the  army  or 
navy,  who  has  died  in  the  seivice,  and  whose  family  is  lett  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I29 

pecuniary  distress  subject  to  the  approval  of  our  Secietary  of 
State,  ^20,  and  so  on  in  proportion  up  to  i^8o;  for  the  son  of 
an  admiral,  or  of  a  general  officer  who  is  colonel  of  a  regiment, 
or  in  receipt  of  Indian  Colonel's  allowances,  ;i^  80  a  yr;  the  son 
of  a  private,  ;^I25;  the  pay  of  a  cadet  is  35  per  day,  it  is  assured 
to  cover  the  expenses  of  regimental  clothing,  messing,  washing 
and  other  contingencies;  all  other  necessary  expenses  of  this 
nature  as  well  as  weekly  pocket  money,  postage  of  letters,  boot- 
makers and  tailor's  bills  for  repairs  etc.;  which  cannot  be  covered 
by  his  pay,  shall  be  chargable  to  his  parents  or  guardian  in  ad- 
dition to  the  regulated  contribution,  a  sum  of  ;^25,  to  cover  ex- 
penses of  uniform,  books  etc.,  and  bring  with  him  all  the  articles 
of  clothing  of  which  he  shall  receive  notice,  and  which  afterwards 
mu'jt  be  kept  up  at  his  expense.  He  shall  also  be  required  to 
pay  the  regulated  contribution  in  advance  for  each  half  year  he 
remains  under  instruction,  and  a  deposit  of  ;^5  for  contingent 
expenses.  The  Field  Marshall,  Commanding  in  chief  will  be  the 
president  of  the  Academy.  The  Academy  will  be  under  the 
control  of  a  governor  appointed  by  and  responsible  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  war  through  the  Field  Marshall,  Commanding- 
in-chief.  The  organization  will  be  on  a  military  basis;  cadets 
will  form  one  company  mnder  a  Captain  assisted  by  4  Lieut, 
charged  with  the  disciplineant  of  studies  and  the  drill,  one  of 
whom  will  be  Adjutant  and  Quarter  mastei.  The  professors 
and  instructors  may  either  be  military  men  or  civilians;  they  will 
have  limited  power  of  punishment,  within  and  without  the  halls, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  Governor,  to  whom  they  will  report  all 
punishments  they  may  inflict.  The  Chaplain  will  be  specially 
appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  will  give  instructions  in 
classics.  No  professor  will  be  allowed  to  give  private  instruction 
to  a  cadet  at  any  time  to  prepare  candidates  for  admission  into 
the  Academy;  the  Governor  will  have  absolute  power  of  rusti- 
cation and  removal,  and  also  of  sentencing  a  cadet  for  misconduct, 
to  lose  places  in  the  list  of'successful  candidates  for  commissions; 
when  expulsion  is  necessary  the  case  will  be  referred  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  through  the  Field  Marshall  Commanding-in-chief; 
the  name  of  such  cadet  will  be  made  known  to  the  First  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  and  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  to  prevent 

17 


)  30  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

his  being  admitted  into  other  branches  of  Her  MajcJty's  service 
course  of  instruction  will  be  2^  yrs.;  if  any  student  fails  to  come 
up  to  the  required  standard  of  2  examinations  or  be  found  un- 
able to  qualify  in  his  studies  fo**  a  commission  within  3  yrs.,  to 
be  counted  from  the  comnenccment  of  the  first  term  he  joins,  or 
to  acquire  a  sufficient  proficiency  in  military  exercises  he  will 
be  removed:  no  extension  of  the  period  of  three  yrs.  will  be 
granted  from  any  cause  except  illness;  the  following  subjects  will 
form  the  course  of  obligatory  studies;  first  mathematics,  includ- 
ing a  thorough  knowledge  of  plain  trigonmetry,  practical  mechan- 
ics with  the  application  of  machinery;  2nd  fortification  field  and 
permanent,  such  a  course  as  is  suitable  to  cadets,  qualifying  for 
the  artillery  and  the  requisite  amt  of  geometrical  drawing;  3rd, 
artillery,  such  a  course  as  is  suitable  for  cadets  qualifying  for 
engineers;  4th  military  drawings  with  field  stretchings  and  rccon- 
noissance;  5th  military  history  and  geography;  6th  French  or 
German  at  the  students  choice;  7th  chemistry  and  physics;  8th 
drills  and  exercise;  in  addition  to  this,  students  will  be  allowed 
to  take  up  certain  voluntary  subjects;  no  obligatory  suhj  ct  shall 
gain  cadet  ranks  unless  he  obtain  a  minimum  of  i  half  marks  in 
it;  no  cadet  will  be  insured  a  commission  unless  he  qualify  by 
obtaining  at  least  i  half  marks  in  obligatory  course  in  mathe- 
matics, mechanics,  fortifications  and  artillery,  and  i  half  of  the 
total  aggregate  of  the  marks  alloted  to  all.  the  obligatory  sub- 
jects; no  voluntary  subjects  shall  gain  a  cadet  any  marks  unless 
he  obtain  a  minimum  of  at  least  ^  of  the  marks,  assigned  to 
that  portion  of  it  in  which  he  is  examined;  the  marks  gained  in 
the  voluntary  subjects  will  be  added  to  those  obtained  in  the  ob- 
ligatory subjects,  to  make  a  second  total  according  to  the 
which  cadets  shall  be  finally  placed.  The  Academy  has  19  Pro- 
fessors; the  Governor  has  ^1500  a  yr.  inclusive  of  all  allowances 
except  quarters,  in  addition  to  his  unattached  pay  as  general 
officer.  Sec.  Treasurer  ;^400  Capt.  of  Co.  12s.  and  regimental 
pay,  also  forage  for  one  horse,  quarters,  fuel  and  light,  and  2 
soldier  servants;  Lieut's  4^.  Highest  pay  of  Professors,  £$5^ 
lowest  ;^3 50;  a  cadet  is  removed  from  the  Academy  for  moral 
or  physical  unfitness.  Copy  of  a  letter  sent  to  Uncle  Richard. 
Feb.  3rd.,  "My  dear  uncle,     I  reed,  your  letter  yesterday  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I3I 

was  sorry  to  hear  of  Uncle  Timothy's  v.ife's  death,  also  that 
Richard's  cough  is  worse,  was  pleased  to  hear  that  we  may  ex- 
pect a  visit  from  you  shortly,  please  send  postal  card  a  few  days 
before  and  either  Tom  or  I  will  meet  you  at  the  depot;  you 
name  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  as  a  proof  that  promotion  in  the 
Knglish  army  is  by  influence  and  not  by  merit,  and  certainly  it 
is  a  very  strong  proof,  as  he  never  gained  the  position  he  now 
holds  by  rendering  any  service  to  his  country,  but  only  through 
influence,  but  then  we  should  remember  his  position  is  only 
nominal  for  he  has  never  seen  active  service,  and  were  a  great 
war  to  break  out  and  threaten  England  and  her  colonies,  be  would 
not  have  the  ability  or  experience  to  guide  the  movements  of 
the  army,  and  some  other  general  better  suited  would  be  chosen; 
some  time  ago  when  there  was  danger  of  war  between  Elngland 
and  Russia,  it  was  not  the  Duke  who  was  to  have  command  of 
the  forces,  but  Sir  W.  Napier,  and  supposing  there  had  been  a 
war  and  any  vtctories  had  been  gained,  it  would  not  have  been 
the  Duke  but  Napier  that  would  have  had  the  honor  of  them; 
England  in  time  of  war  must  of  necessity  only  regard  true  merit 
in  preferance  to  any  influence;  Nelson,  one  of  England's  great- 
est heroes  had  to  struggle  for  a  long  time  without  the  aid  of  in- 
fluence, but  his  courage  and  ability  triumphed  overall;  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  may  have  gained  some  advantages  through  the 
influence  of  Lord  Welsley,  but  if  he  had  not  possessed  ability 
and  merit,  the  appointment  would  have  only  been  a  disgrace 
instead  of  an  honor  to  his  name,  therefore,  influence  without 
merit  is  far  inferior  to  merit  without  influence;  if  a  man  through 
ambition  cultivates  whatever  abilities  he  has  he  will  quickly  find 
friends  who  will  lend  him  their  influence,  but  as  you  say,  the 
first  thing  a  young  man  should  do  is  to  educate  himself;  as  the 
age  in  the  U.  S.  is  from  17  to  22,  I  am  certain  I  can  by  a  little 
hard  study,  fit  myself  to  pass  the  primary  examination,  and  if 
you  and  Uncle  John  will  have  the  kindness  to  consent  I  shall 
go  immediately  to  the  U.  S.;  become  a  citizen  and  by  a  little 
skillful  manoevoring  get  appointed  by  one  of  the  members  of 
Congress  in  some  of  the  States;  I  know  well  that  no  man  can 
succeed  who  has  not  a  fixed  purpose  in  life,  but  would  make 
this  mine  and  would  spare  no  effort  to  make  it  a  success;  I  hope 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

you  will  pardon  my  alluding  to  the  subject  again  aftar  your  2 
refusals,  but  I  still  hope  you  may  yet  consent,  when  you  see 
how  dear  the  object  is  to  us;  I  have  received  prospectuses  from 
Kingston,  West  Point  and  Woolwich  military  colleges;  at  West 
Point  the  age  is  from  17  to  22,  which  puts  it  within  my  reach; 
the  cadet  receives  1^540  a  year,  commencing  when  he  enters  the 
college  and  which  is  ample  to  pay  all  expenses;  hoping  soon 
to  hear  from  you,  I  remain  your  affectionate  nephew,  A.  N.  How- 
ard." When  I  wrote  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  I 
forwarded  him  the  following  letters,  but  i  have  already  men- 
tioned of  the  answer  I  received.  I  was  informed  that  there 
would  not  be  any  vacancies  for  foreign  appointments  before  '82 
and  that  placed  all  hopes  in  that  direction  out  of  the  question. 
Head  Quarters;  Newburg,  23rd  June  1883.  Sir;  I  was  yester- 
day favored  with  your  letter  of  the  i2th  of  February,  and  this 
day  I  transmitted  the  papers  which  accompanied  it  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  Congress  with  a  letter  of  which  the  enclosed  is 
a  copy.  Your  early  attachment  to  the  cause  of  this 
country  and  your  exertions  in  relieving  the  distresses  of 
our  fellow  citizens  as  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
prisoners  in  Ireland,  claim  the  regard  of  every  American  and 
will  always  entitle  you  to  my  particular  esteem.  I  shall  always 
be  happy  in  rendering  you  every  service  in  my  power.  Being 
with  great  truth,  sir,  j'our  very  obedient  servant,  George 
Washington."  Mr.  Reuben  Howard.  Headquarters,  Newburg, 
23rd  June,  1783.  Sir:  I  do  myself  the  honor  to  transmit  to 
your  Excellency,  a  copy  of  a  letter  I  have  received  from  Mr. 
Reuben  Howard  of  Cork,  Ireland,  and  sundry  papers  which 
accompanied  it.  The  early  part  this  gentleman  appears  to  have 
taken  in  the  cause  of  this  country,  and  his  exertions  in  relieving 
the  distresses  of  such  of  our  fellow-citizens  whom  chance  of  war 
threw  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  entitle  him  to  the  esteem  of 
every  American,  and  will  doubtless  have  due  weight  in  recom- 
mending him  to  the  notice  of  Congress.  I  have  the  honor  to 
be  &c.  G.  Washington.  His  Excellency,  the  President  of  Con- 
gress. By  the  United  States  Congress,  assembled  July  18,  1783. 
On  report  of  a  committee  to  whom  was  referred  a  letter  of  the 
23d  of  June,  from  the   Commander-in-chief,  enclosing  the  copy 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  Ij^ 

of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Reuben  Howard,  merchant,  in  Cork  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  other  papers.  Resolved,  That  the 
Commander  in-chief  be  requested  to  transmit  the  thanks  of 
Congress  to  Mr.  Reuben  Howard,  and  express  the  just  sense 
Congress  entertain  of  the  services  he  has  rendered  during  the 
late  war  to  American  prisoners.  Chas.  Thomson,  Secretary. 
Sir:  I  am  honcM'ed  with  the  care  of  transmitting  to  you  the  en- 
closed Resolution  of  Congress,  expressing  the  sense  that 
August  Body  entertain  of  your  goodnesss  to  American  prison- 
ers. Impressed  as  I  am  with  sentiments  of  gratitude  to  you 
for  this  expression  of  your  benevolence.  I  feel  a  very  particular 
gratification  in  conveying  to  you  the  thanks  of  the  Soverign 
Power  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on  an  occasion  which, 
while  it  does  honor  to  humanity,  stamps  a  mark  of  particular 
distinction  on  you.  Wishing  you  the  enjoyment  of  health  with 
every  attendant  blessing,  I  beg  to  be  persuaded  that  I  am, 
with  every  particular  respect  and  regard,  sir,  your  most  obedient 
servant,  G.  Washington.  Mount  Vernon,  August.  1784.  Sir: 
Capt.  Stickney  has  presented  me  with  your  favor  of  the  25th  of 
May,  together  with  the  mess  beef  and  ox  tongues,  for  which  you 
will  please  accept  my  best  thanks,  I  don't  grow  tobacco,  nor 
am  I  possessed  of  a  lb.  at  this  time,  otherwise  I  would  have  the 
pleasure  of  consigning  a  few  hhds.  to  your  address,  under  full 
persuasion  that  no  person  would  do  me  greater  justice  in  the 
sale  of  them.  Wheat  and  flour  of  last  year's  produce  is  either 
exported  or  consumed,  that  of  the  present  year  is  not  yet  in 
market.  What  prices  they  will  bear  is  not  for  me  to  say.  But 
though  I  do  not  move  in  the  mercantile  line,  except  in  wheat, 
(which  I  manufacture  into  flour,)  I  should,  nevertheless,  thank 
you  for  any  information  respecting  the  price  of  these  articles. 
With  very  great  esteem  and  respect,  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedi- 
ent servant,  G.  Washington.  General  Washington  subsequently 
presented  Reuben  Howard  with  a  gold  ring  in  which  was  set  a 
minature  portrait  of  himself  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  family. 
These  letters  were  printed  for  private  circulation  only  amongst 
the  members  of  the  different  branches  of  the  family.  G.  N. 
Howard,  (grandson  of  said  Rueben  Howard)  merchant  and  vice- 
consul  for  Prussia,  Sweden,  Norway,  Portugal,  Brazil  and  Meek- 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

lenburg  Schwerin  at  Cork.  Have  been  reading  the  Histories  of 
Germany  and  Spain  of  late.  Mrs.  M.  has  asked  me  to  spend  a 
few  days  at  their  house  at  Easter.  Father  has  received  a  letter 
from  Jim  Parker,  the  first  settler  in  these  parts,  he  has  discov- 
ered a  mine  in  Colorado,  and  has  had  a  village  that  has  sprung 
up  around  it  named  after  him.  Some  iron  ore  has  been  dis- 
covered near  Aston  and  is  being  drawn  to  McLean's  foundry  at 
Durham.  Went  to  Davenport  to  see  cousin  Sarah;  went  with 
her  husband  to  the  neat  little  church  in  the  village;  it  is  free  for 
the  use  of  all  Protestant  denominations,  which  shows  how  the 
divisions  between  the  Protestant  churches  are  being  removed 
and  that  the  differences  between  them  is  only  nominal.  It  seems 
that  these  divisions  amongst  them  has  been  a  source  of  strength 
and  aided  their  remarkiible  growth  and  the  glorious  work  they 
have  accomplished.  In  this  the  first  era  of  their  existence  they 
have  accomplished  double  the  amount  of  growth  and  good  than 
the  early  Christian  church  did;  let  the  reader  study  impartially 
both  periods  and  he  cannot  be  otherwise  than  of  the  same 
opinion.  Was  surprised  to  see  Mrs.  Cross,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  on  our  range,  teaching  Sunday  school;  in  former 
days  she  had  a  tongue  like  a  two-edged  sword,  but  I  suppose 
advancing  years  has  induced  her  to  put  it  to  better  use  than 
"back-biting  her  neighbors."  Called  at  Devlin's  and  was  sur- 
prised to  see  a  picture  of  "God,  the  Father."  What  terrible 
blasphemy!  According  to  their  own  scripture,  Moses  could  not 
look  upon  the  glory  of  God;  if  so,  how  could  any  human  artist 
paint  the  features  of  Him;  and  does  not  their  own  scriptures 
say,  "Thou  shalt  not  make  any  graven  image,  or  the  likeness  of 
anything  in  heaven  above  or  the  earth  beneath;  or  bow  down  to 
them  or  worship  them."  Yet  I  have  seen  hundred  ot  these  de- 
luded people  kneel  down  with  the  most  disgusting  servility 
before  the  image  of  some  saints  who  were  only  weak  and  finite 
men  like  themselves.  While  speaking  with  Meredith's  hired 
man  he  told  me  that  Nicholas  hardly  ever  does  any  work,  but 
gets  it  all  done  by  hired  help  and  is  most  of  his  time  reading  or 
smoking  in  his  room  or  under  the  shade  of  some  trees.  If  he 
continues  thus  he  can  never  become  a  prosperous  farmer.  "The 
Elms,.    Dear  Tom  and  Arthur:     Your   letters   received.     We 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  I35 

have  bought  5  steers  this  spring  for  ^15  each,  they  are  small  for 
their  age  having  been  brought  up  on  straw,  but  all  who  have 
seen  them  think  they  are  a  great  bargain,  as  we  can  get  at  least 
double  for  them  next  fall;  we  have  6  steers,  2  heifers,  4  cows,  3 
pigs,  10  sheep,  2  colts  and  2  horses,  which  is  very  little  stock 
for  a  farm  of  this  size;  it  is  enough,  however,  until  we  have 
enriched  the  soil,  after  which  we  will  have  3  lots  of  steers,  30 
always  maturing  3  years  and  ready  to  sell.  There  is  little 
money  to  be  made  in  this  Province  by  raising  grain,  it  pays  bet- 
ter to  fatten  cattle  for  the  British  market.  In  your  letter  you 
still  appear  anxious  to  buckle  on  armor.  I  fail,  howe\^r,  to 
understand  your  patriotism,  as  you  are  as  willing  to  enter  West 
Point  as  an  English  one,  where  you  would  have  to  sv/ear  allegi- 
ance and  fight  against  England  if  called  upon  to  do  so.  I  think 
the  idea  of  your  getting  into  West  Point  is  an  impossiblity,  for 
each  state  can  only  nominate  i  or  2  names.  When  I  was  in 
New  York  the  number  of  applicants  was  over  2000  for  that  state, 
and  it  was  by  competitive  examination  held  by  the  members  of 
Congress.  I  think  the  President  only  appoints  ambassador's  sons 
and  merely  for  the  educational  facilities  of  the  institution  and 
occassionally  some  relative,  when  there  is  a  tremendous  rumpus 
in  the  papers.  You  say  at  Kingston  military  college  the  expense 
is  nominal,  that  is  right,  only  as  far  as  instruction  goes.  Our 
friend  Mr.  R's  son  is  going  to  leave  on  account  of  the  expense, 
but  is  a  miserable  place  at  any  rate  and  not  worth  entering;  if  I 
were  in  perfect  health  to-morrow  I  could  not  get  into  the  army 
if  I  wished  to,  bemg  too  old  as  you  are  also  for  the  Canadian  and 
English  military  colleges,  and  I  hardly  think  you  could  get  an 
American  member  of  Congress  to  appoint  you  (a  stranger)  when 
he  has  to  deny  100  of  his  countrymen  every  yr.  A  friend  of 
mine,  D.  D.  Turner,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  would  have  paid 
any  amount  of  money  to  get  into  the  English  army  and  although 
only  a  few  years  older  than  the  appointed  age  he  could  not  suc- 
ceed, besides  it  is  a  miserable  life  at  best,  I  have  personally  known 
several  officers  who  left  to  go  to  college  to  study  for  a  profession, 
and  I  entirely  disagree  with  you  about  pooV  uneducated  people, 
there  is  no  where  that  a  real  gentleman  shows  more  to  advan- 
tage than  among  the  lower  classes,  "honor  and  shame  from  no 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

condition  rise,"  act  well  your  part  there  all  the  honor  lies."  As 
for  study,  all  our  great  scholars  have  been  self-taught;  you  can 
study  anywhere  and  if  you  have  a  taste  it  will  always  be  a 
pleasure;  I  think  Clifford  and  I  can  hold  a  much  more  easy  and 
independant  position  as  farmers  than  military  men;  in  a  great 
many  cities  the  principal  people  will  not  call  on  the  military  or 
invite  them  to  their  houses,  on  account  of  their  being  too  dis- 
sipated; your  cousin  Mr.  Fothergill  tells  me  that  this  is  the  case 
at  Salford,  England;  ifj-ou  and  Tom  make  up  ycur  mind  that 
you  would  like  to  try  legitimate  farming  in  a  cleared  country  I 
would  write  to  Uncle  Jerrold  if  you  should  wish  it;  I  have  a 
nice  farm  in  view  for  you  of  200  acres,  80  cleared  and  rolled, 
with  a  fine  rich  soil  that  can  be  purchassed  for  less  than  ;$2O00; 
the  great  thing  in  buying  is  to  see  that  the  fences  are  good  and 
that  the  stables,  pastures  and  meadows  are  in  good  order,  for  if 
they  are  not  you  will  lose  2  or  3  yrs.  in  trying  like  us  to  get 
them  in  order  again;  Cliftord  and  I  were  much  interested  in 
your  2  pieces  of  poetry  entitled  "the  Scottish  Knight,"  and  the 
"Irish  settler;"  I  am  now  interested  in  reading  a  "history  of 
our  own  times"  by  Justin  McCarthy,  he  is  a  Liberal  and  writes 
very  impartially,  giving  praise  to  Beaconsfield  as  well  as  to  Glad- 
stone; at  present  our  men  are  drawing  rails  and  manure.  The 
U.  S.  army  is  so  small  (24000)  that  I  fail  to  see  how  they  give 
e'iiployment  to  all  the  graduates  every  yr.;  in  time  of  peace  va- 
cancies are  not  plentiful;  the  yr.  before  last  the  officers  of  the 
U.  S.  navy  were  not  paid,  as  the  Congress  had  not  voted  money 
for  that  purpose;  with  love  to  you  and  Tom,  your  affectionate 
cousin  R.  I.  Goldsmith."  Tom  and  I  have  been  making  rails, 
also  draw  logs  for  Guertin's  mill  •and  made  "sap  troughs"  at  the 
rate  of  50  a  day  in  ash  timber  trees  of  medium  size,  cut  in  2^ 
ft:  lengths,  split  in  2  halves  and  "hollov/ed  out"  with  an  axe  and 
adze.  "The  Elms,  Feb,  Dear  Arthur.  The  Kingston  Mil- 
itary College  leads  to  nothing,  after  cadets  have  finished  their 
study,  3  or  4  if  up  to  the  mark,  and  those  the  best  out  of  the 
whole  co'lege  get  employment  in  the  English  army;  kind 
to  Canada,  we  pay  for  their  education,  then  England  takes  the 
best  away  if  good  enough  for  her;)  the  Canadians  v;ill  not  stand 
this  much  longer.     England  will   have  to  ed'Kate  her  own  sol- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  137 

diers,  (volunteers  are  enough  for  us.)  A.  and  B.  batteries  ia 
Canada  very  seldom  have  a  vacancy,  so  with  an  average  of  30 
scholars  each  yr.  at  Kingston,  the  chance  of  being  one  of  the 
best  4  is  very  poor;  the  col'e^e  at  Quebec  is  only  for  training 
volunteer  officers  for  Canada  I  believe;  even  if  you  were  young 
enough  to  enter,  tlie  life  would  disgust  you.  in  time  of  peace  (a 
time  we  all  hope  for)  an  officers  duties  is  a  little  fatigue  drill 
dancing  and  drinking,  the  latter  you  have  to  pay  for  whether  you 
drink  it  or  not.  There  are  religious  men  in  the  army  but  they 
are  few  and  far  between,  and  are  generally  considered  out  of 
place,  as  it  puts  them  in  a  false  position.  If  England  makes  an 
unjust  war  against  another  nation  you  cannot  even  raise  your 
vo'ce  against  it  in  protest,  and  every  man  you  kill  is  a  question 
bjtwecn  yourself  and  your  maker,  although  you  gain  some  med- 
als and  applause  at  the  time,  you  will  finally  learn  that  the  ap- 
plause of  society  is  too  often  the  applause  of  the  devil;  by  judic- 
ious reading  and  avoiding  bad  society,  and  being  just  in  all  your 
dealings,  you  will  always  find  yourself  respected  by  that  society 
most  worth  cultivating,  and  you  will  eventually  secure  to  your- 
self an  honorable  position  in  this  Canada  of  ours,  which  is  yet 
in  its  infancy,  and  which  if  we  could  only  realize  it,  our  individ- 
ual conduct  will  either  make  it  a  good  or  a  bad  country.  To 
enter  a  ball  room  with  brassy  assurance  to  be  smiled  on  by  a 
a  people  both  artificial  in  manner  and  appearance,  and  to  mix 
in  society  made  up  of  wealth,  dishonestly  acquired  in  most 
cases,  is  ambition  that  would  soon  wear  out:  there  is  a  society 
however  not  numerous,  but  select,  which  consists  of  true  men  and 
women  who  judge  each  other  by  what  they  are,  they  believe 
that  a  gentleman  is  a  man  educated  in  his  own  language,  leads 
an  honest  life  and  above  all  things  is  sensitive  with  regard,  for 
the  feelings  of  others,  all  this  I  believe  you  have  Arthur,  but 
what  I  would  suggest  is,  that  you  move  to  a  cleared  farm  where 
less  work  would  bring  a  greater  return,  and  where  you  would 
have  a  more  congenial  social  atmosphere;  with  your  large  in- 
come you  could  keep  a  housekeeper  and  live  in  comfort,  while 
the  proceeds  of  your  farm  would  enable  you  to  make  an  annual 
bank  deposit;  1  believe  where  you  are  you  are  wasting  your  time 
and  money,  and  the   Frenchmen   should  you  become  intimate 

18 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

with  them  will  ultimately  drag  you  down  to  their  level:  you 
must  excuse  my  going  so  much  into  the  sermon  business,  but 
had  I  no  regard  for  you  I  would  not  do  it;  we  have  bought  a 
Suffolk  sow  for  Siy,  also  a  Durham  9  yr.  old  cow  for  $26  also 
lo^tons  of  hay  at  II4  aton,  to  draw  it  ourselves.  Hope  you  will 
decide  to  come  and  farm  near  us,  your  affectionate  cousin  R.  I. 
Goldsmith."  It  is  perfectly  absurd  for  Cousin  Richard  to 
speak  of  military  men  in  this  way,  for  as  the  world  is  not 
civilized  enough  to  abolish  war  military  men  will  rank  as 
they  always  have  in  the  world's  history,  as  one  of 
the  best  and  highest  classes  of  society,  brave  and  gallant  men 
possessing  that  grace  of  manner  and  stately  demeanor  that  wins 
for  them  so  much  admiration  and  respect  in  the  best  society  in 
the  world.  And  I  confidently  assert  that  more  true  and  perfect 
men  can  be  found  in  the  army  than  in  any  other  class  of  people 
in  the  world,  and  that  not  i  lady  in  20  would  prefer  the  society 
of  your  ignorant  and  boorish  farmers  to  that  of  men  in  the  army, 
therefore  I  maintain  that  this  preference  shown  for  the  society 
of  military  men  by  the  most  refined  and  perfect  ladies  all  over 
the  world  is  a  certain  proof  that  military  men  are  as  a  class  the 
most  perfect  gentleman,  to  this  of  course  there  are  exceptions, 
there  being  in  the  army  as  well  as  all  other  professions  a  certain 
class  of  men  who  bring  dishonor  on  their  fellow-oflicers  who 
despise  their  low  ungentlemanly  conduct,  and  would  not  toler- 
erate  them  in  their  midst  if  it  were  possible  to  remove  them  from 
it;  there  is  however  a  rigid  Puritanical  class  of  society,  whose 
homes  are  too  solemn  and  its  inmates  too  grave  and  devout  to 
tolerate  the  bright  sunshine  of  the  witty  and  charming  conver- 
sation of  these  perfect  gentleman,  but  that  class  of  society  may 
rest  assured  that  even  if  they  did  invite  them  these  military 
gentleman  would  no  more  think  of  going  to  spend  an  evening 
in  their  Puritanical  drawing-rooms  than  they  would  of  spending 
it  in  the  cell  of  a  dark  and  gloomy  prison.  Extract  from 
letter  from  Uncle  Richard  dated  April  ist.  ''Tom  and  you 
have  done  a  great  deal  of  valuable  work  on  your  lots 
which  will  tend  much  to  your  ease  and  comfort  hereafter.  I 
ftel  like  a  bird  out  at  Richard's  farm.  Liberty  is  a  sweet 
thing,  especially  to  those  who  have  been  enslaved   to   many  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 39 

the  foolish  usages  of  civih'zed  society.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that 
poor  Parker  has  fallen  into  luck,  poor  fellow  has  suffered  much 
from  the  tribulation  an  vicissitudes  of  life,  but  I  always  consider- 
ed him  a  clever,  shrewd  man.  My  son  Richard,  while  out  west 
for  his  health,  gave  a  very  doleful  account  of  that  country,  and 
said  he  had  no  doubt  the  time  would  come  when  the  tide  of  emi- 
gratiom  would  turn  ba^  a  east;  said  ha  saw  more  idle  people 
seeking  bread  in  (California  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
In  Lower  Canada  now  the  rush  seems  to  be  for  Manitoba,  and 
were  it  not  for  bad  water  and  scarcity  of  timber  it  would  not  be 
such  a  bad  place  There  are  several  in  Montreal  that,  have 
returned  in  disgust.  Few  can  tell  better  than  yourselves  of  the 
trials  and  hardships  in  a  new  country.  Most  of  your  hardships 
are  now  over  and  in  another  year  or  two  your  farm  will  begin  to 
pay.  Excuse  my  saying  that  in  your  composition  you  have  one 
bad  habit  that  of  dropping  your  articles  and  consonants;  this 
custom  is  only  adopted  by  illiterate  Americans;  you  say,  "at 
saw  mill;"  "for  new  barn;"  otherwise  your  composition  is  exce-j 
lent;  of  course  I  know  there  are  few  men  whose  composition  is 
perfect,  but  I  know  you  will  receive  these  remarks  in  the  spirit 
of  love  in  which  they  arc  given."  Have  piled  our  timber  at 
Roussin's  saw  mill.  Walter  Bacon  has  written  a  novel  and 
published  it;  the  Bacon  family  are  all  very  clever,  and  with  only 
their  widowed  mother's  aid  have  educated  themselves.  Since  I 
last  wro'.e  in  this  journal  I  have  gone  to  concerts,  balls,  private 
paities,  church  socials  and  private  theatrical  entertainments  and 
played  a  "checker  tournament"  with  all  the  best  English  checker 
players  of  Aston,  and  came  out  i  the  lists  as  champion  of  the 
English  players,  a  truly  empty  honor  for  a  man  to  waste  many 
precious  hours  in  acquiring.  Oh,  inconsistent  man  that  I  am! 
Have  heard  oaths  and  vile  conversation  amongst  the  French, 
and  in  the  best  society  of  some  of  Aston's  English  ladies  have 
seen  so  called  christian  ladies  that  one  day  sang  praises  to  God 
in  his  church  and  spent  the  next  in  standing  and  speaking  evil 
of  their  neighbors.  In  justice,  however,  I  must  say  I  have  met 
with  some  beautiful  exceptions,  but  regret  to  say  they  are  very 
few.  At  the  English  schoolhouse  I  saw  a  panoramic  view  of  the 
"Holy  Land,"  which  was  very  instructive.     Spent  a  most  enjoy- 


J^O  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENXH  IN  AMERICA. 

able  evening  at  Merediths;  lo  or  12  intimate  friends  were  tlierc 
from  Preston,  Richford  and  Aston;  passed  the  evening  in  Hsten- 
ing  to  singing  and  music,  playing  whist,  and  a  few  waltzes;  after 
a  choice  supper  at  1 1  o'clock  we  dispersed;  I  returning  on  foot 
7  miles  over  a  road  ankle  deep  in  mud  greatly  regretting  that  I 
had  not  accepted  the  invitation  to  stay  all  night.  I  went  next 
day  with  a  Frenchman  to  attend  to  the  boiling  of  the  syrup; 
had  a  sugar  party  in  the  English  schoolhouse,  at  which  a  most 
unfortunate  quarrel  occurred  between  two  young  gentlemen  (so 
called.)  Mr.  C.  was  sitting  on  a  barrel  and  Mr.  N.  asked  him  to 
get  off  as  he  wanted  to  get  some  articles  out  of  it;  Mr.  C.  did 
not  immediately  comply  and  Mr.  N.  shoved  the  barrel  and 
knocked  it  over,  at  which  Mr.  C,  who  is  very  quick  tempered, 
of  Irish  descent,  made  a  hard  snow  ball  and  let  fly,  almost  stun- 
ning Mr.  N.  and  giving  him  a  black  eye;  fortunately  no  ladies 
were  present  and  the  aftair  was  hushed;  they  are  both  aspirants 
for  the  fair  hand  of  Miss  Mabel  Willoughby,  which  in  a  measure 
may  account  for  it.  8th  April;  beautiful,  mild  weather;  have 
commenced  drawing  out  manure  on  the  meadows.  It  a.'^trni.'-hes 
me  how  Frenchwomen  swear  and  imagine  there  is  no  haim  in 
it;  such  expressions  as  "My  God,"  "Saviour  of  God,"  Holy 
Ghost,"  Holy  Virgin,"  Good  God,"  Jesus  Christ,"  &c.,  are  all 
hourly  and  commonplace  terms  with  them.  I  must  say  to  the 
credit  of  English  and  Protestant  women,  that  I  have  never  met  a 
respectable  women  among  them  that  would  be  guilty  of  such 
language.  Have  read  Tennyson's  poems,  but  prefer  those  of  Sir 
W.  Scott  and  Lord  Bvron.  This  afternoon  snow  fell  2  Vz  inches 
deep.  There  was  a  delightful  little  party  held  in  the  English 
schoolhouse  at  Aston  this  week.  Had  a  dispute  with  Tom 
about  his  horses;  he  says  that  I  must  not  take  them  to  go  to 
the  villagfe  without  asking  his  consent;  told  him  that  I  had  to 
pay  half  the  expense  of  feeding  them  and  that  it  was  only  just 
that  I  should  be  allowed  the  use  of  them  once  or  twice  a  week. 
The  Liberals  have  defeated  the  Conservatives  in  England  by  a 
large  majority.  Herbert  C.  had  a  sugar  party,  but  it  was  a 
decided  failure,  even  though  he  had  printed  and  distributed  cards 
of  invitation,  as  but  few  representatives  of  the  fair  sex  were  at  it; 
Nicholas  M.  and  Adam  Grant  who  came  to  it,  stayed  over  night 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I4I 

at  our  house  and  played  cards,  dominoes  and  sang  comic  songs 
and  related  some  anecdotes  that  would  have  been  more  appro- 
priate in  Charles  the  Second's  reign.  Tom  and  I  have  com- 
menced cutting  timber  on  land  we  are  going  to  clear;  we  have 
given  Freddy  Burke  20  acres  to  clear  at  $$  an  acre;  it  is  where 
Roussin's  lumbermen  have  removed  most  of  the  timber.  Bought 
2  calves  at  the  village  for  50cts.  each;  Jimmy  Burke  lias  been 
released  and  is  more  depraved  than  when  he  entered  the  peni- 
tentiary, and  uses  most  horrible  language  in  general  conversa- 
tion. I  have  persuaded  Mrs.  Meredith  to  teach  school,  that  is, 
her  own  children  in  her  own  house,  for  the  sake  of  not  letting 
the  school  fall  into  the  hands  of  R  C's.  Have  joined  the  French 
club,  which  is  named  St.  Andre.  Have  been  deepening  the 
course  of  the  stream  lately;  which  i«i  cold  work,  up  to  one's 
knees  in  water  and  mud.  The  Meredith's  went  one  evening  this 
week  to  attend  a  "May  Queen"  celebration;  Florence  and  Maud 
are  coming  back  in  June  and  will,  I  suppose,  be  full  fledged, 
graceful  and  charming  young  ladies.  Freddy  Burke  has  broke 
his  contract;  Meredith's  have  bought  a  farm  adjoining  theirs, 
185  acres  wiih  small  house,  barn  and  stable  on  it  for  ^1600; 
it  is  very  cheap  being  only  one  mile  from  Aston  village;  3  years 
ago  the  old  Frenchman  that  owned  it  offered  it  to  me  if  I  would 
pay  him  ;^20o  a  year  for  life,  which  I  refused  and  he  died  a  year 
after.  Walter  Goldsmith  dined  with  me  at  Merediths  and  is 
extremely  bashful  with  young  ladies.  Croquet  is  all  the  rage  in 
Aston  now;  country  villages  are  always  behind  the  time  in 
everything,  especially  F'rench  Canadian  ones,  lawn  tennis  has 
been  in  vogue  in  other  places  long  ago.  While  out  on  a  boat- 
ing excursion  some  of  the  English  young  men  decided  to  take  a 
bath  as  it  was  6  miles  up  the  river  and  far  away  from  civilization; 
the  Frenchmen  had  each  a  small  piece  of  dark  cloth  attached 
with  a  string  around  their  necks  with  the  name  of  the  Virgin 
sewn  on  it;  I  was  informed  the  little  piece  of  cloth  came  from 
the  robes  of  the  bishop  of  this  diocese  and  cost  5octs.  each,  and 
that  any  Catholic  found  dead  without  this  badge  of  Catholicism 
the  body  would  not  be  buried  in  consecrated  ground;  I  expect 
this  only  holds  good  for  the  ignorant  French  in  this  Province, 
for  I  hardly  think  that  intelligent  Catholics  in  the  U.  S.  or  Eng- 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

land  would  pay  50ds  for  a  little  bit  of  the  worn  out  robe  of  a 
bishop;  they,  however  assured  me  that  all  Catholics  wore  this 
badge  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  water  was  not  very  cold 
considering  it  was  the  lOth  of  May.  Have  made  a  pleasure  boat 
to  keep  on  Aston  river;  have  christened  it  "Grace  Darling.'' 
Metz  Vincent  has  married;  I  pity  the  poor  creature  whoever  she 
is.  We  have  been  very  busy  of  late  clearing  land,  drawing  lum- 
ber for  the  new  barn,  fencing,  ditching,  and  repairing  our  main 
road.  Had  a  dispute  with  Vincent's;  they  took  the  contract  of 
clearing  3  acres  of  land,  commenced  work  at  9  in  the  morning 
and  quit  at  4  in  the  evening  and  still  expected  to  make  big 
wages,  but  discovered  their  mistake  as  they  only  earned  at  the 
rate  of  3 Sets,  a  day,  and  were  so  enraged  they  threatened  to 
thrash  me  within  an  inch  of  my  life.  Have  of  late  been  trying 
to  organize  a  volunteer  corps.  Received  the  following  letter: 
"St.  Jean.  Sir,  your  letter  of  the  31st  of  May  has  been  received 
and  I  have  noted  its  contents  which  I  have  transmitted  to  the 
brigade  major  of  the  military  district  No.  6,  to  be  forwarded  to 
Ottawa  for  the  consideration  of  the  minister  of  militia.  I  have 
the  honor  to  remain  your  obedient  servant,  Lieut.  Col.  Doherty, 
Of  late  Tom  has  had  morning  and  evening  prayers  regularly; 
our  hired  boy  Jerrold  is  very  useful  about  the  house;  have  con- 
tributed $$  annually  to  the  Norfolk  Sheltering  Home  for  Orphans; 
Nicholas  and  I  often  attend  the  St.  Andre  club  and  play  billiards, 
cards,  checkers,  &c.,  and  read  the  newspapers  which  are  chiefly 
in  French.  Rev.  L.  C.  Willoughby  does  not  denounce  error 
enough  in  his  sermons;  his  sermons  would  I  think  be  very  suit- 
able for  angels  to  listen  to  but  are  not  practical  enough  for  frail 
and  mortal  man  After  the  services  a  child  was  christened;  this 
has  always  seemed  to  me  a  ridiculous  ceremony;  the  idea  of  a 
babbling  infant  being  received  into  the  church  of  Christ  and  4 
adults  taking  vows  on  themselves  that  this  child  will  renounce 
the  devil  and  all  his  works  when  perhaps  it  will  live  to  be  a 
housebreaker  or  a  murderer,  and  what  seems  still  more  absurd  is 
that  I  have  seen  many  godfathers  and  godmothers  both  in  the 
Church  of  England  and  the  Catholic  Church  make  this  impossi- 
ble promise  when  they  themselves  had  not  renounced  the  works 
of  the  devil.     I  have  actually  seen  at  the  Catholic  Church  in  this 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1^3 

parish  an  inveterate  drunkard  and  wife  beater  allowed  by  the 
parish  priest  to  stand  up  as  godfather  for  a  poor  innocent  httle 
infant;  I  thought  at  the  time  the  poor  little  thing  would  be  better 
without  any  godfather  at  all  than  to  have  such  a  brute  as  this. 
Mr.  Milton  is  staying  with  us  a  few  days  till  he  has  sold  a  small 
quantity  of  bark  that  still  remains  on  Sherman's  lot.  On  the 
24th  May  there  was  a  pic  nic  at  Preston  in  honor  of  the  Queen's 
birthday.  Commenced  to  sow  potatoes  in  the  new  land  but 
found  it  so  rocky  and  rooty  that  I  decided  to  give  out  the  job  to 
T.ouis  Brodeur;  he  is  to  sow  12  bushels  of  potatoes  and  give  us 
40  this  fall.  Uncle  Richard  has  been  out  to  see  us.  "i8th  June, 
Dear  Uncle,  I  Iiope  Flora  has  perfectly  recovered  from  the  shock 
her  nervous  system  received  from  the  fire;  how  very  brave  her 
husband  was  to  rescue  her  from  the  burning  house;  how  fortun- 
ate her  furs  and  jewelry  were  insured.  We  have  been  very  busy 
clearing  land  since  you  left  us;  have  so\^n  it  all  except  a  small 
piece  we  have  reserved  for  turnips.  Our  crops  consist  of  16  bush, 
of  oats,  2  acres  of  buckwheat,  several  acres  under  oats  and  i^ 
under  potatoes.  The  Colorado  beetle  has  not  yet  made  its  ap- 
pearanee;  our  crop  of  hay  promises  to  be  one  of  the  finest  we 
have  had  for  many  yrs;  in  many  places  it  is  2  J'2  ft.  high;  I  expect 
both  barns  will  be  full  as  the  old  barn  is  half  full  from  last  year. 
Have  also  done  much  work  at  clearing  out  ihe  stream;  the  black 
alluvial  soil  we  dig  out  of  its  bed  will  form  good  top  dressing  for 
the  highland  meadows.  We  are  raising  9  calves  on  milk  and 
Indian  meal.     Our  "home  boy"  is  very  useful,  keeps   the    house 

idy  and  cooks  the  meals;  we  will  have  to  feed,  clothe  and  give 
lim  schooling  for  the  first  3  years  and  after  tnat  pay  him  wages. 
L:.st  week  I  heard  of  a  great  bargain  of  land,  1 500  acres  well 
:overed  with  timber  for  ^^i  per  acre,  is  situated  in  the  Co.  of  Suf- 
blk  and  within  4  m.  of  a  rly;  some  of  the  land  is  low  and  has 
jood  pine  timber  on  it,  but  the  greater  part  of  it  is  bigh  land 
covered  with  sugar  bushes;  one  of  the  lots  is  within  one  mile  of 
Richford;  public  roads  pass  by  all  the  lots;  I  think  it  is   a  great 

argain  and  that  even  the  timber  on  it  will  be  worth  in  less  than 
5  yrs  the  price  that  is  now  asked  for  it;  the  annual  tax  on  this 
property  is  rather  high  now  on  account  of  the  rly  tax  but  alto- 
gether does  not  exceed  ^30  a  yr;  the  titles  are  all  without  a  fiaw; 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

what  I  propose  is  that  Tom  and  I  buy  this  land;  he  will  sell  it 
payable  in  5  annual  installments  of;jg3i4,  which  includes  interest; 
this  wc  can  easily  meet  with  the  returns  from  our  farm  and  in- 
come. Now  that  I  cannot  enter  the  army  I  want  Tom  and  my- 
self to  be  somethinfT  more  than  market  gardeners,  to  possess  one 
of  the  finest  estates  in  this  part  of  the  country.  I  hardly  think 
you  will  object  to  our  taking  advantage  of  this  great  bargain 
which  will  be  a  good  and  safe  investment  for  all  our  spare  cap- 
ital during  the  next  5  yrs.  It  seems  to  me  that  good  land  well 
watered  and  timbered  at  $\  per  acre  is  the  best  investment  a 
man  could  make;  however  we  leave  it  to  you.  decision.  Tom 
unites  with  me  in  love  to  you  all,  your  affec.  nephew,  A.  N.  How- 
ard." Mr.  M.  sold  his  lot  situated  2  m.  from  Aston  for  $800; 
during  the  copper  mine  mania  he  refused  $10,000  for  it  which  he 
must  now  greatly  regret.  The  flies  are  very  troublesome  to  the 
animal  world  and  men  at  this  time  of  yr.  While  working  at  fa- 
ther's by  an  almost  'perpendicular  rock,  30  ft.  high,  it  reminded 
me  of  my  younger  days  when  us  boys  divided  in  parties  under 
the  Union  Jack,  with  stars  and  stripes,  with  wooden  swords; 
used  to  take  great  pleasure  in  attacking  a  minature  wooden 
fortress  in  its  summit  and  burning  it.  Played  croquet  at  Guern- 
sey's with  Mary  G.,  went  to  Meredith's,  listened  to  music  and 
singing,Maud  showed  me  some  sketches  she  took  while  in  Ontario. 
After  tea  had  outdoor  games  with  Nicholas  and  a  cousin  of  his 
from  Scotland;  Maud  and  Florence  are  delightfully  unaffected 
and  were  the  apparently  pleased  spectators  of  our  atiiletic  sports; 
had  an  interesting  2  hours  conversation  with  Maud,  Mabel,  Flor- 
ence and  Nicholas  on  the  veranda  in  the  cool  evening  air  of  early 
summer.  At  church  next  aay  the  2  Bacon's  officiated,  one  of 
them  has  been  ordained  a  clergyman.  Daniel  C.  has  bought 
what  is  known  as  Dupries  farm  from  the  B.  A.  Land  Co;  100 
acres  for  $4SO,  8  yrs  to  pay  for  it  without  interest;  it  has  a  fine 
sugar  bush  some  hemlock  bark  and  is  heavily  covered  with  tim- 
ber. I  hoed  fathers  potatoes  for  him.  I  have  resigned  the  sec- 
retaryship of  the  dissentient  school  and  been  elected  trustee. 
Went  to  a  "bee"  at  Carmichael's,  the  dinner  and  supper  were 
very  poor,  lewd  jokes  and  oaths  were  numerous  throughout  the 
day.     Received  a  letter  for  our  boy  from  his  widowed  mother  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I45 

Liverpool.     Wc  commenced  cutting  our  hay  on  the   loth  July; 
Tom  is  still  thinking  of  leaving  this  place   and  going  out  west; 
offered  to  rent  me  his  half  if  I  would  clear  10  acres  a  year  on  it, 
I  refused.     Had  an  argument  with  J.  Murphy  about  Gallieo,  he 
tried  to  persuade  nie  that   he  was  cannonized  as  a  saint  by  the 
church,  told  him  that  instead  of  being  made  a  saint  he  was  per- 
secuted by  the  bishops  of  the  church  and  imprisoned  for  having 
the  moral  courage  to  assert  a  scientific  truth  that  "the  world  re- 
volved around  the  sun  insteid  of  the  sun  around  the  earth.   loth 
Jily,  dear  uncle,  we  received  your  letter  last  Saturday  and  apol- 
ogize for  not  answering  it  sooner,  the  reason  was  we  were  busy 
all  week  cutting  and  saving  our  hay  which  will  keep  us  busy  for 
at  least  2  months  as  we  will  have  to  cut  father's  hay  for  him,   of 
which  he  has  about  6  acres  and  38  acres  of  our  own.     I   regret 
you  have  decided  against  our  buying  the  land  but    of  course  as 
[you  say  any  business  that  is  stretched  too  much  is  likely  to  break. 
iWe  hdve  had  very  dry  weather  lately,  there  has  been  no  rain  for 
several  weeks.     My  uncle  Herbert  has  not  yet  returned  from  his 
jvisit  to  his  son  the  Dr.  in  Iowa.     A  great  many  farmers   around 
[here  have  great  difficulty  in  getting  laborers   for  haying  on  ac- 
[count  of  so  many  being  employed  at  bark  peeling,   unimportant 
jitems  close  it.     Daniel  C.  and  I  have  in  contemplation  another 
'isit  to  Wakefield's,  he  became  hopelessly  in  love  with  the  eldest 
laughter  several  yrs  ago,  but  of  course  she  rightly  considers  her- 
self far  above  him,  is  fairly  educated  and  has  ^$2000  in  her  own 
lame  but  is  very  plain  and  freckled,   red  hair   and   protruding 
^eeth;  I  trust  it  is  not  the  ^2000  he  is  in  love  with,  for  my  part 
iltho  I  like  money  exceedingly  for  the  great  advantages  it  can 
purchase  I  am  confident  I  never  could   be  mean  enough  to  try 
ind  persuade  an  ugly  young  lady  that  I  loved  her  for  the  sake  of 
paltry  ^2000.     I  can  understand  genius  and  talent  making  a 
lan  love  an  ugly  lady,  but  in  my  opinion  riches,  never!    Nicho- 
ls and  his  cousin  Morton  from  Scotland  often  come  to  see  us. 
^hile  looking  over   a    photograph   album   with    Florence  and 
laud  one  evening,  Maud   made  some    indirect   remark   about 
-ichard  Bacon's  photograph  at   which  Florence  blushed  deeply, 
^hich    filled    my  mind    with   the    most   painful    of  thoughts, 
>ut    never    mind     "faint    heart     never    won    a     fair    lady," 

19 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

SO  I  must  strive  on  manfully  through  life,  battling  unceasingly 
against  its  many  difficulties  and  temptations,  and  live  to  be 
worthy  of  her  even  if  I  do  not  win  her,  true  love  has  an  eleva- 
ting and  enobling  influence  on  mankind,  but  man  should  not 
allow  even  it  to  gain  an  overmastering  influence  upon  him,  for 
in  so  doing  it  oiten  ruins  weak  men's  lives,  for  instance,  those 
men  and  women  who  say  "because  the  dearest  object  of  our 
affections  did  not  recriprocate  them  we  have  lost  all  ambition 
in  life,"  are  truly  to  say  the  least,  weak  and  puny  specimens  of 
manhood  and  womanhood.  The  beetles  have  appeared  on  the 
potatoes,  Louis  B.  has  applied  Paris  Green  to  them.  Mortin, 
Nicholas'  cousin  is  "very  green"  while  at  our  place  Nicholas 
persuaded  him  to  try  the  experiment  of  sleeping  in  a  tree  saying 
that  trappers  and  huntersoften  did  so  and  enjoyed  it,  he  belongs  I 
should  say  to  the  middle  class  of  the  Scotch  people,  and  is 
thoroughly  honest  and  a  good  hearted  fellow.  At  Carmicheal's 
"mowing  bee"  I  took  the  lead  of  20  men  and  none  of  them  could 
keep  up  with  me,  and  am  now  acknowledged  as  ths  best  mower 
in  these  parts.  Mr.  Bacon,  telegraph  operator  of  the  St.  Norbcrt 
Rly.  is  engaged  to  Miss  Grant;  if  some  lovers  only  knew  how 
absurd  they  appear  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  they  would  not 
act  as  if  they  were  the  only  happy  individuals  in  ex- 
istance.  Sold  Mr.  Grant  2000  bundels  of  hay  for  $120;  spent 
the  evening  there,  played  cards  and  talked  nonsense  with  the  2 
Miss  G's,  who  are  terribly  affected  and  would  make  good  dis- 
ciples of  the  aesthetic  Oscar  Wild,  laughed  at  poor  jokes,  heard 
pretty  lips  use  bad  grammar,  sipped  wine,  nibbled  cake  and 
passed  a  moderately  pleasant  evening.  9th  Aug.;  the  oats  in 
the  back  clearance  are  nothing  extra,  and  the  potatoes  almost  a 
failure,  so  we  did  well  not  to  sow  them  ourselves;  Tom  is  now; 
glad  he  took  my  advice.  Went  to  a  picnic  of  St.  Andre's  club; 
on  Pine  Island,  situated  in  the  river  that  runs  from  Richford  to 
Preston;  there  never  was  a  gayer  party  of  young  men,  as,. 
we  ascended  the  river  next  day  with  our  well  filled  lunch  bas- 
kets singing  French  and  PInglish  songs;  on  reaching  the  island] 
for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  partook  of  a  small  piece  of  "frog'sj 
leg"  which  a  party  of  those  who  went  out  fishing  had  cooked  in| 
butter,  it  was  perfectly  delicious,  and  tender  as  a  chicken,  and  li 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  14/ 

shall  always  defend  Frenchmen  hereafter  when  I  hear  them  rid- 
iculed for  eating  frog's  legs,  the  flowing  bowl  was  also  passed 
around  with  many  a  boisterous  shout,  and  most  liquors  from 
champagne  down  to  whiskey,  and  beer  were  largely  partaken  of, 
I  however  with  a  few  others  did  not  imbibe,  which  was  very  for- 
tunate as  many  of  the  gayer  spirits  were  so  intoxicated  that  in 
going  down  the  river  we  had  all  we  could  do  to  keep  them  from 
getting  drowned;  have  hired  Mrs.  Vincent  to  do  the  washing 
and  mending  of  the  clothes  for  Tom,  myself  and  our  hired  boy, 
for  35cts.  a  week;  while  at  La  Rivere's  conversed  with  him  and 
his  brother-in-law  on  religion  and  morality;  so  disgustingly  low 
were  their  ideas  on  these  subjects  that  I  look  on  them  as  but  a 
few  degrees  better  than  the  brute  beast,  for  when  men's  intel- 
lectual faculties  are  crushed  and  enslaved  to  this  extent  they  lose 
all  their  worth  and  beauty,  and  reduce  man  from  being  one  of 
the  noblest  of  God's  creatures  to  that  of  being  one  of  the  most 
servile  and  debased;  told  G's  of  a  concert  going  to  be  held  at 
Davenport,  they  talked  of  going  2nd  class,  I  said  a  young  man 
should  not  travel  2nd  class,  a  millionaire  might  afford  to  do  so  but 
not  a  young  man  who  has  yet  to  make  a  position  and  friends  in 
the  world,  and  I  thought  it  unwise  of  a  man  to  pass  many  hours 
in  a  vulgar  atmosphere  for  the  sake  of  a  few  shillings;  went  on 
a  visit  to  Hartford;  there  has  been  t>T)hus  fever  at  Lemington 
college  through  bad  drainage;  I  find  that  one  of  the  Bacon's  a 
student  there  "cribbed"  and  was  nearly  turned  out  of  college  for 
it  but  the  exammers  took  pity  on  him  as  it  would  nearly  ruin  his 
prospects  in  life,  besides  they  are  short  in  their  supply  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry;  drove  to  Johnsville,  some  fine  farms  and 
pretty  scenery,  deep  ravines  with  groves  of  woodland  not  very 
far  apart.  Clifford  and  I  went  to  Carlton  which  is  a  magnificent 
farming  district,  has  some  of  the  finest  rural  scenery  in  the  prov- 
ince; every  valley  has  its  stream  or  river,  and  most  of  the  roads 
are  arched  over  by  stately  avenues  of  trees;  the  whole  country 
is  a  network  of  well  tilled  fields  interlaced  with  groves  of  prime- 
val woodland  which  resembles  many  parks  as  the  ground  under- 
neath is  free  of  brushwood  and  covered  with  grass  on  which 
large  herds  of  cattle  graze;  Carlton  has  an  excellent  young 
ladies'  college.     Mr.  Christie's  farm  buildings  look  like  a  small 


148  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  .  , 

village  with  its  many  roofs  and  tall  chimneys,  for  cooking  roots 
for  cattle;  his  workman's  cottages,  bains,  graneries,  stables  aiid 
his  own  house  and  that  of  his  sons,  are  all  well  surrounded  with 
a  stately  grove  of  trees;  no  sand  is  seen  here  as  at  Hartford,  and 
the  few  rocks  that  were  here  have  by  thrifty  industry  been  built 
into  walls,  so  evenly  that  they  are  an  ornament  the  country; 
Christie  is  the  richest  and  best  farmer  in  Canada,  yet  strange  to 
say  he  has  a  very  poor  education,  not  even  a  good  elementary 
education;  has  made  most  of  his  money  in  the  shoe  business 
and  is  now  one  of  Canada's  Senators,  ist  Sept.;  went  on  a 
pleasure  excursion  to  Norfolk;  the  excursion  is  in  aid  of  an 
R.  C.  church  that  is  being  built  there.  On  leaving  Aston  the 
land  on  either  side  is  sandy;  most  of  the  primeval  forest  has 
been  cut  away  and  a  second  growth  taken  its  place.  Where 
St.  Herbert  rly.  crosses  our  "range"  the  land  becomes  more 
rocky  with  a  rocky  ledge  ico  ft.  high,  and  the  soil  also  improves 
this  I  have  noticed  is  generally  the  case,  that  wherever  rocks  are 
the  land  is  scarcely  ever  poor  or  sandy,  pass  Leurier's  brick- 
yard and  pver  the  stream  that  runs  throucrh  our  land,  also  over 
Guertin's  river  a  branch  of  the  Richford  river;  the  country  now 
becomes  more  cleared  and  level  but  looks  bare  with  no  primitive 
forest  in  sight,  before  reaching  Richford  pass  through  several 
deep  cuttings  with  board  fences  12  ft.  high  to  prevent  the  snow 
from  drfting  in;  are  now  in  sight  of  Richford,  a  pretty  view,  the 
r'wy  runs  along  the  river's  bank  which  is  about  100  ft.  above  the 
river;  Richford  is  a  pretty  village  in  a  valley  wi'th  a  steep  range 
of  hills  on  either  side;  after  leaving  Richford  the  country  be- 
comes exceedingly  rocky;  passed  a  few  small  whitewashed 
houses  in  a  clearance,  forest  right  up  to  the  track  on  one  side 
and  a  small  strip  of  clearance  on  the  other;  the  train  travels 
quickly  considering  the  many  curves  in  the  road;  this  road  i<? 
well  fenced  in  with  board  and  wire  fencing;  small  clearances  on 
the  left;  the  land  is  still  considerably  rocky;  cleared  land  on  both 
sides  for  a  short  distance;  forest  again  on  both  sides,  no  swamps 
as  yet  seen,  all  high  land  and  hardwood  timber,  pass  through 
some  deep  cuttings  in  rock  so  high  that  we  cannat  see  the  top 
of  it  from  the  car  window;  some  fine  fields  of  grain  and  the 
houses  of  new  settlers;  a  fine  grove  of  maples  and  much  cord- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I49 

wood  along  the  line;  have  reached  cleared  country  again  with 
some  ledges  of  rock  in  it;  arrive  at  South  Rich  ford,  a  small  stop- 
ping place  with  a  few  wooden  houses  and  a  consic'erable  quantity 
of  bark  and  ties;  country  is  getting  more  level  and  of  better  ap- 
pearance; a  great  many  board  fences  to  keep  the  snow  from  the 
track;  primeval  forest  on  either  side,  but  clearances  can  be  seen 
on  rising  ground  in  the  distance;  on  both  sides  a  splendid  growth 
of  forest  clearences,  again  newly  cleared  with  stumps  and  stones 
in  it;  a  range  of  hills  in  the  distance,  forest  and  clearance  alter- 
nately; pass  2  small  stopping  places;  there  are  a  number  of 
Frenchmen  yelling  in  the  car  next  this  one;  they  have  imbibed 
somewhat  too  freely,  a  clearance  growing  up  in  second  growth; 
country  getting  more  and  more  cleared,  cross  a  stream,  country 
beginning  to  look  more  attractive,  numerous  streams,  land  low 
and  marshy  and  covered  with  brushwood,  clearances  again  with 
rocky  land;  the  smoke  from  the  engine  is  very  unpleasant  as  all 
the  windows  are  open;  arrive  at  Warrington,  a  very  straggling 
town;  pass  what  some  Eastern  yankees  call  a  "bone  orchard;" 
the  country  we  have  passed  through  is  far  from  picturesque  or 
offers  brilliant  prospects  to  intending  settlers;  have  entered  wild 
wilderness  again,  trees  of  stunted  growth,  scorched  by  fire,  clear- 
ances newly  made,  stopped  at  a  small  station,  forest  again  on 
either  side.  The  country  now  suddenly  changes,  and  the  scenery 
becomes  interesting;  Norfolk  village  is  surrounded  by  14  hills; 
passed  by  Bruntfield  Lake,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Quebec;  its  surface  is  dotted  with  dozens  of  islands;  Nor- 
folk is  a  scattered  village;  hired  a  boat  with  some  of  my  French 
friends  for  75cts.,  rowed  to  one  of  the  islands  where  there  was  a 
fine  sandy  bottom  with  water  only  4  to  5  ft.  deep  for  acres  in  ex- 
tent, where  we  bathed;  there  was  a  boat  race  in  the  afternoon;  I 
rowed  about  the  lake  by  myself,  amongst  its  beautiful  little  islands 
for  2}4  hrs.  without  stopping;  300  people  dined  in  a  beautiful 
grove,  many  dined  at  the  hotel,  a  remarkably  good  one  for  such 
a  small  village;  after  that  there  was  a  bazaar  where  christian 
ladies  sold  things  for  double  what  they  were  worth,  and  never  as 
a  matter  of  course  would  give  you  back  small  change  if  any  was 
coming  to  you,  I  have  also  noticed  that  with  these  religious  un- 
dertakings they  generally  chose  the  brightet  and  most  good  look  • 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

ing  ladies  to  induce  foolish  young  men  to  be  more  lavish  with 
their  money  on  that  account;  they  also  threw  tickets  for  watches 
and  then  the  fortunate  one  who  threw  the  hightest  number  with 
dice  received  it;  I  must  say  this  seems  to  be  a  low  way  of  mak- 
ing money  to  build  a  house  for  God;  they  were  also  several 
speeches  made,  one  speaker  reproved  the  French  for  coming  to 
the  U.  S.;  towards  the  close  a  most  beautiful  young  lady  went 
through  all  the  crowd  soliciting  subscriptions  for  the  church;  it 
was  amusing  to  see  how  many  young  men  by  their  manner  gave 
her  to  understand  that  they  gave  the  money  for  her  sake.  Read 
"'History  of  our  own  times"  by  J.  McCarthy,  England  may  well 
be  proud  of  her  orators,  statesmen  and  heroes.  8th  Sept.,  smoke 
of  brush  fires  so  dense  that  we  cannot  see  5  ft  ahead  of  them. 
Houde's  wells  have  dried  up,  he  draws  water  from  our  streams. 
The  French  Canadians  are  a  very  productive  race;  the  clergy 
encourage  them  to  "increase  and  multiply"  as  it  all  adds  to  the 
power  of  their  church;  in  conversation  at  G's  I  discovered  that 
in  our  range,  12  miles  long,  with  several  hundred  people  on  it 
there  is  not  a  single  Frenchman  that  cannot  say  he  has  never 
been  drunk;  the  government  ought  to  legislate  against  this  grow- 
ing evil.  The  English  have  routed  the  Afghan  Insurgents;  Gen, 
Roberts  is  a  clever  general;  Baroness  Burdett  Coutts  is  deter- 
mined to  marry  her  secretary,  Mr,  Bartlett  an  American,  against 
the  advice  of  the  Queen  and  her  friends;  she  is  an  old  maid  over 
60  yrs.,  and  worth  several  millions.  Spent  an  evening  at  Mer- 
idith's;  from  the  top  of  their  house  (which  commands  a  very  ex- 
tensive view  of  the  entire  surrounding  country)  we  saw  the  light 
of  bush  fires  in  all  directions,  which  illuminated  the  distant  hori- 
zon somewhat  as  sheet  lightening  does.  Spoke  with  Mr,  M.  on 
politics,  he  is  a  staunch  conservative  but  agrees  with  me  that  no 
Englishman  should  vote  otherwise  than  the  Liberal  ticket  in  this 
province,  for  in  reality  the  Liberals  are  the  Conservative  party 
and  the  so  called  conservatives,  ultermontanes,  or  in  other  words 
that  party  supported  by  the  influence  of  the  priests.  Mrs.  Har- 
rison was  on  a  visit  there;  Mr.  M.  sang  a  German  song  with 
Florence,  after  which  Florence  sang  one  in  Italian;  without  doubt 
she  has  a  cultivated,  sweet  and  powerful  voice;  Mrs.  H.  sang, 
her  voice  has  something  strained  about  it,  still  I  imagine  she  had 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  I^I 

a  fine  voice  in  her  younger  days.  Two  train  of  thoughts  occu- 
pied my  mind  that  night  before  going  to  sleep,  the  first  was,  to 
sacrifice  everything  to  mount  the  ladder  of  fame,  to  make  that 
my  aim  and  let  nothing  else  divert  me  from  it,  the  2nd  was,  to 
pass  through  life  in  a  peaceful  quiet  manner,  or  to  use  a  prayer 
book  term  "be  satisfied  with  that  state  into  which  it  has  pleased 
Gcd  to  call  me."  Had  an  hrs.  conversation  with  Mrs.  H.  next 
morning,  she  is  a  kind  hearted  lady,  and  exceedingly  well  read; 
it  did  not  require  long  acquaintance  to  engage  in  friendly  con- 
versation in  America,  as  is  generally  the  way  with  ladies  in 
England;  she  was  an  agreeable  exception  to  that  class  of  ladies 
who  can  converse  on  nothing  else  than  the  senseless  gossip  of 
society.  On  reaching  the  church  was  informed  that  bush  fires 
were  burning  near  our  place;  came  home  at  full  speed  on  horse- 
back; 2  miles  of  country  was  literally  covered  with  flames;  at 
times  I  thought  I  would  be  suffocated,  but  got  through  at  last 
and  found  the  fire  raging  on  both  sides  of  the  road  quite  close 
to  our  house;  Tom  with  other  men  were  on  the  roofs  of  the 
buildings  with  buckets  of  water  wetting  the  roofs,  and  others 
were  hauling  water  with  teams,  I  started  with  a  party  with  axes 
hoes  and  spades,  and  dug  trenches  in  the  earth  to  stop  the  ad- 
vancing flames;  the  ground  is  so  dry  that  the  decayed  vegetable 
matter  on  the  surface  is  almost  impossible  to  extinguish;  Kirwin 
came  from  Aston  with  men  to  help  us,  he  was  very  drunk  but 
had  just  enough  sense  to  be  in  great  fear  that  the  bark  on  his 
lots  could  be  burnt;  fortunately  it  rained  towards  morning  which 
enabled  us  to  take  a  rest;  Clifford  C.  has  gone  to  the  exhibition 
at  Montreal,  the  first  time  he  has  travelled  in  a  rly,  since  he  was 
an  infant  20  yrs.  ago;  I  also  know  of  a  young  lady  in  Aston  who 
has  never  seen  a  steamboat;  went  to  the  exhibition  in  Montreal, 
hotel  prices  are  very  high;  bought  a  tweed  suit  af'the  Boston  one 
price  clothing  store"  for  $8.50,  the  dearest  suit  I  ever  bought  for 
it  only  lasted  2  weeks  wear;  entrance  fee  to  the  exhibition  is  25 
cents;  for  a  description  of  it  I  give  a  letter  I  wrote  to  Uncle  Jer- 
rold  on  my  return.  "Dear  uncle.  I  have  to  apologise  for  not 
answering  your  kind  letter  sooner  but  I  waited  till  Tom  returned 
f^om  Montr  al,  we  both  went  to  an  exhibition  held  there  during 
Sept.  which  was  a  success  considering  that  there  was  one  held 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

at  Toronto  at  the  same  time;  I  enclose  in  this  letter  a  plan  of 
the  grounds;  no.  i  is  the  road  leading  to  Montreal;  2,  the  road 
to  Mt.  Royal;  3,  road  in  front  of  exhibition  grounds  leading  to 
St.  Lawrance  Main  St ;  4,  restaurants,  side  shows  and  gambling 
dens;  5,  cabstand,  6,  board  sidewalk  in  front  of  exhibition;  7  and  8 
a  fence  12  ft.  high  in  the  front  of  the  grounds  with  2  gates  for 
foot  passengers  entering,  and  2  for  exit;  9,  building  with  post- 
office,  telegraph  office  and  rooms  for  exhibition  committees  and 
secretaries;  10,  an  enclosure  containing  a  captive  baloon  which 
made  ascensions  nearly  every  day;  11,  refreshment  tent;  12,  a 
seat;  13,  the  right  side  of  exlnbition  grounds  with  a  shed  run- 
ning the  whole  length  for  cattle,  some  of  which  were  thorough- 
breds, also  2  wagon  roads  for  entering  the  exhibits;  14, 
a  ring  for  the  inspection  of  cattle;  15,  a  watering  place; 
16,  an  open  ^enclosure  in  which  were  cultivators,  har- 
rows, mowing  machines,  rakes,  thieshers,  patent  churns, 
in  fact  nearly  all  the  modern  appliances  of  agriculture;  there  was 
also  an  apparatus  for  makmg  sugar  by  evaporation  by  steam 
in  pans  instead  of  over  a  fire  in  kettles  as  formerly;  1 7,  a  shed 
with  a  central  passage  through  it  which  contained  nothing  but 
pigs  of  all  sizes  and  breeds,  some  of  which  had  a  hideous  appear- 
ance, so  fat  that  their  eyes  could  hardly  be  seen,  but  everything 
was  perfectly  neat  and  clean;  18,  a  restaurant  at  which  a  very 
fair  meal  of  bread,  meat  and  vegetables  with  cofiee  or  tea  could 
be  had  for  25cts.;  19,  an  exhibition  of  tombstones;  20,  the 
building  containing  mechanical  and  manufacturing  departments; 
21,  refreshment  tents;  22,  a  restaurant,  5octs.  a  meal;  23,  back 
part  of  exhibition,  a  wagon  entrance  in  it  and  a  shed  running 
parallel  with  it,  containing  cattle  and  Shetland  ponies;  24,  rail- 
way platform;  25,  Manitoba  car'  containing  its  agricultural  ex- 
hibits; 26,  left  side  of  exhibition  with  a  shed  similar  to  that  on 
right  side,  containing  mostly  heavy  draught  horses  with  a  few 
exhibits  of  thoroughbreds  and  racers;  27,  a  building  filled  with 
sleighs,  carts,  carriages,  wagons,  gigs,  and  almost  every  style  of 
vehicle  imaginable,  also  saddles  and  row  boats,  some  finely  built 
ones  of  cedar  costing  as  low  as  ^32;  28,  the  crystal  palace,  a 
curiosity  in  itself,  having  been  built  in  8  days,  the  ist  story  hati 
a  large  assortment  of  furs  and  fur  clothing  of  every  description, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  153 

a  large  collection  of  pianos  and  organs  with  lady  and  gentlemen 
performers;  soaps,  confectionery,  drugs  and  chemicals,  all 
arranged  with  great  taste;  immense  glass  show  cases  with  every 
make  of  biscuit  imaginable,  dry  goods  of  all  sorts,  hardware, 
bells,  saws  and  ioo  other  diftcrent  hardware  articles,  also  an 
altar  and  images  of  the  R.  C.  church  of  such  miserable  work- 
manship that  1  believe  were  the  great  Grecian  sculptors  still 
living  they  would  die  of  disgust.  On  the  2nd  floor  was  an  art 
department  containing  thousands  of  beautiful  pictures  and  paint- 
ings, a  department  for  sculpture,  also  photography,  stationery, 
minerals,  fancy  work,  stuffed  animals,  small  machines  such  as 
sewing  a-id  knitting  machines,  &c.,  musical,  brass  and  stringed 
instruments,  also  a  department  containing  every  style  of  ladies' 
and  gentlemen's  dresses,  also  hundreds  of  smaller  exhibits  too 
numerous  to  mention;  but  I  need  not  give  you  a  minute  des- 
cription for  you  have  seen  exhibitions  in  Great  Britain  that 
would  make  3  of  this;  sufhcient  to  say  that  it  was  a  success  and 
a  credit  to  a  colony  of  4,000,000  inhabitants,  but  it  is  almost 
certain  that  ere  another  century  passes  the  exhibits  of  Canada 
will  equal  if  not  surpass  those  of  any  European  nation;  29,  a 
fountain;  30,  tents  of  newspaper  reporters;  31,  ice  water;  32, 
first  class  restaurant;  33,  Manitoba  hall,  in  which  I  was  surprised 
at  the  size  of  products  that  had  been  harvested  4  weeks  before 
maturity.  It  seems  strange  to  me  that  thousands  of  French 
Canadians  emigrate  annually  to  the  U.  S.  when  we  have  millions 
of  acres  of  fertile  land  in  our  own  country;  the  majority  of  the 
clergy  also  strongly  condemn  their  leaving  this  country,  but  it 
is  the  high  wages  that  tempt  them  across  the  border,  also  all 
their  children  can  get  employment  in  factories  as  young  as  7 
years.  34,  ring  for  the  inspection  of  horses;  35,  a  restaurant. 
The  day  the  Governor  General  arrived  there  were  75,000  people 
in  the  grounds;  minor  news  closes  the  letter.  I  regret  now 
having  come  in  so  early  as  all  the  exhibits  have  not  yet  arrived. 
The  flags  of  most  nations  are  flying  and  liquor  of  all  sorts  flow- 
ing, and  what  with  the  hum  of  machinery,  the  banging  of  ham- 
mers, the  neighing  of  horses  and  noise  made  by  other  animals, 
with  the  buz  of  human  voices,  renders  it   almost  a  second  babel; 

a  brass  band  plays  constantly  in  the  grand  pavilion.     Visited  the 

20 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

W^//«^jj  printing  establishment,  it  employs  120  hands;  saw  a 
monster  Hoe  printing  press  which  turns  out  newspapers  almost 
faster  than  they  can  be  counted;  paid  locts.  admission  to  the  art 
association  and  saw  thousands  of  beautiful  paintings,  water 
colors,  etc.  Have  seen  some  good  plays  at  the  Academy  of 
Music,  the  best  theatre  in  Montreal.  Went  through  the  McGill 
college  grounds,  they  are  very  beautiful,  with  green  grass,  shady 
walks,  vine  covered  bowers  and  arches,  summer  houses,  foun- 
tains, flower  beds,  etc.,  the  college  buildings  are  of  stone  and 
look  very  imposing  on  the  side  of  the  mountain.  There  are  four 
different  classes  of  seats  in  the  Academy  ot  Music,  orchestra 
boxes  on  either  side  and  overlooking  the  stage,  ^5  each;  dress 
circle  seats  immediately  in  front  of  the  stage,  $i;  general  admis- 
sion, 50cts.,  and  "up  amongst  the  gods,"  or  in  the  "nigger 
heaven"  as  it  is  called  in  the  U.  S.,  25cts.;  for  my  part  I  prefer 
the  general  admission  ticket,  that  is  of  course  when  not  accom- 
panied by  a  lady,  as  the  seats  are  just  the  right  distance  from 
the  stage  to  see  the  actors  at  an  advantage  and  the  seats  are  just 
as  comfortably  cushioned;  the  orchestra  boxes  are  richly  fur- 
nished, soft  carpets,  luxurious  sofas  and  chairs  and  costly  cur- 
tains that  can  be  opened  or  closed  at  pleasure,  and  in  them  sat 
some  of  Montreal's  richest  citizens  with  their  dignified  and 
beautiful  wives  and  daughters;  up  amongst  the  "gods"  were 
chiefly  college  students,  policemen,  cabmen  and  laborers,  and  1 
am  glad  to  say  no  women;  there  were  no  cushions  here  and  saw 
dust  was  on  the  floors;  all  the  seats  in  the  theatre  are  like  a 
semi-circular  stairs,  similar  to  those  in  a  Roman  amphitheater. 
After  returning  home  I  decided  to  return  with  Tom  and  a  party 
of  Aston  friends  to  the  exhibition;  write  this  on  board  the  cars 
"en  route"  for  Montreal;  between  Aston  and  Preston  the  country 
is  flat  with  very  few  clearances  and  much  of  the  forest  has  been 
cut  away  and  damaged  by  fire;  crossed  the  Preston  river  on  a 
bridge  about  80  ft.  above  it;  the  country  has  a  bare,  barren 
appearance  and  has  numerous  small  whitewashed  houses.  Pres- 
ton has  a  small  Episcopal  church,  a  large  R.  C.  one,  and  Morri- 
son's large  extract  factory  with  a  few  saw  mills  forms  the  chief 
support  of  the  village;  flat  uninteresting  country  covered  with 
occasional  clumps  of  poplar  groves.     Many  passengers  have  to 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  155 

stand  for  want  of  seats;  large  tracts  of  land  growing  up  in  pop- 
lars; most  dreary  looking  country  between  Preston  and  St. 
Leonard;  are  now  passing  through  a  district  burnt  black  as 
cinder;  after  passing  St.  Leonard  the  country  is  more  cleared 
and  there  arc  some  fine,  good-sized  fields;  fine  farming  country, 
but  too  flat  to  be  picturesque;  this  part  of  the  country  once 
formed  some  of  the  best  agricultural  land  in  the  Province,  but 
the  French  have  destroyed  its  productive  powers  by  taking  crop 
after  crop,  year  after  year  without  rotation  of  crops  or  manure, 
and  the  country  which  might  have  been  made  very  beautiful 
looks  about  as  uninteresting  as  one  could  imagine,  with  the 
monotonous  similarity  of  its  little  whitewashed  houses,  large 
plain  looking  churches  and  its  numerous  whitewashed  crosses 
with  a  jauntily  painted  cock  on  the  top  of  it,  how  this  bird  can 
advance  interests  of  christanity  I  cannot  imagine  unless  it  be 
to  remind  these  devout  christians  of  the  base  treachery  their  first 
infallible  Pope,  Peter,  was  guilty  of  to  his  Lord  and  Master;  I 
have  often  heard  lecturers  and  orators  eloquently  describe  R.  C. 
Churches  as  "Poems  in  Stone;."  this,  however,  cannot  be  applied 
to  the  majority  of  R.  C.  Churches  in  Canada,  especially  in  the 
country  districts  where  the  most  of  the  churches  resemble  large 
stone  or  wooden  barns  with  a  steeple  on  one  end  of  them  and  I 
can  well  imagine  how  much  it  would  try  the  christian  patience 
of  the  many  saints  of  the  past  years  if  they  could  but  see  the 
horrible  caricatures  that  the  R.  C.  Churches  exhibit  of  them  in 
the  country  villages  of  Quebec.  The  greatest  part  of  this 
I  country  is  cleared  but  the  farmers  show  a  want  of  taste  by  cut- 
j  ting  away  all  the  trees  and  not  leaving  or  planting  any  on  their 
farms  which  would  greatly  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  country;, 
clearances  grow  less  and  second  growth  of  poplar  takes  their 
place.  The  country  from  Aston  to  St.  Jean^  is  very  levd.  Mr. 
Morrison,  the  best  citizen  Preston  had,  died  yesterday;  he  was 
a  true  christian  and  a  good  man.  Have  reached  cleared  level 
country;  no  taste  shown;  the  farms  have  been  divided  year  after 
year  till  many  of  them  are  actually  one  acre  wide  and  a  mile 
long;  the  country  has  the  appearance  of  being  covered  with 
numberless  roads  running  parellel  with  each  other.  St.  Jean  is 
a  very  old  town  and  has  several  convents  and  seminaries  where 


I  56  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

the  pliable  minds  of  the  rising  j^eneration  arc  moulded  and  fash- 
ioned according  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  tyrannical  rulers 
of  Roman  Catholicism;  the  country  about  the  tow  n  is  somewhat 
more  interesting  as  there  is  greater  variety  among  the  houses. 
The  clearances  now  stretch  away  for  miles  on  either  side  almost 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach;  the  cars  shake  so  much  that  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  write  pass  several  small  stations  that  are  sur- 
rounded by  a  few  small  whitewashed  houses,  a  store  and  church. 
The  country  now  begins  to  assume  a  finer  aspect  with  groves, 
green  fields,  herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep;  passed  a  dried 
up  river;  it  is  the  dryest  season  we  have  had  for  many  years;  now 
come  in  sight  of  Bethel  mountain,  which  rises  abruptly  from  the 
surrounding  country  and  look  very  fine  covered  with  trees  which 
grow  almost  to  its  summit  which  is  enshrouded  in  a  beautiful 
mist  of  many  colors  and  the  sun  shines  brightly  down  upon  it; 
pass  through  a  small  tract  of  second  growth  forest;  cleared  coun- 
try again,  its  English  settlers  have  left  many  beautiful  pine  and 
elm  groves;  arrived  at  St.  Lawrent  where  Mr.  Waldon  has  moved 
to  as  station  agent  from  Aston,  much  to  our  regret  as  he  was  one 
of  the  most  energetic  church  wardens  of  the  English  church,  it 
is  however  a  promotion  for  him.  This  is  a  very  pretty  village  of 
tastely  built  stone  and  brick  houses  surrounded  by  a  beautiful 
undulating  country  thro  which  the  broad  and  placid  current  of 
the  Bethel  river  flows,  which  forms  a  pleasing  scene  with  the 
numerous  little  pleasure  boats  and  steamers  plying  up  and 
down  its  surface.  The  country  between  Montreal  and  Bethel 
river  is  flat  with  some  nice  groves  here  and  there;  cleared  land 
can  now  be  seen  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  v/ith  small  herds  of 
cattle  grazing  upon  it  in  many  places.  The  quality  and  smooth- 
ness of  the  surface  of  the  country  from  St.  Jean  to  Montreal 
ought  to  make  it  one  of  the  best  farming  districts  in  the  province; 
passed  a  small  village,  many  farmers  have  stacks  of  fodder  out- 
side, many  houses  have  chimnies  built  the  whole  height  of  the 
house  at  one  end  of  it,  a  few  of  the  houses  are  thatched;  another 
small  village;  nearly  all  French  villages  are  named  after  some 
Saint;  passed  the  Victoria  bridge,  the  largest  tunnel  bridge  in  the 
world,  and  entered  Montreal  the  commercial  metropolis  of  Can- 
ada; passed  thro  a  manufacturing  portion  of  the  town  and  reached 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   FN  AMERICA,  157 

Bonavcnturc  depot,  a  very  unsightly  depot  for  a  city  of  150,000. 
Our  party  of  Aston  young  men  decided  to  economize  and  went 
to  a  cheap  lodging  house  where  for  a  large  room  with  6  beds  in 
it  we  paid  $^  for  3  nights.  We  were  all  pleased  with  Lotta's  act- 
ing but  were  disappointed  with  the  play  entitled  40  days  around 
the  world.  We  take  our  meals  at  a  15  cent  restaurant,  meat, 
vegetables,  coffee,  bread  and  butter,  all  neatly  served  and  of  good 
quality  for  15  cents.  I  cannot  see  how  they  make  it  pay  even 
tho  they  are  well  patronized  as  many  as  50  dining  at  the  same 
time.  Saw  the  torpedo  experiments  in  the  harbor  which  blew 
an  old  ship  over  100  ft.  high  out  of  the  water.  The  price  for  tin 
type  photos  in  Montreal  is  I2)^cts.  Had  a  glorious  view  of  the 
surrounding  country  and  Montreal  from  the  observatory  on 
Mount  Royal  through  seme  powerful  opera  glasses;  saw  the 
illuminations  on  Dominion  square,  which  were  of  all  sorts  of 
fanciful  and  fantastic  devices,  hundreds  of  rockets  and  fire 
baloons  ascended  in  the  air,  some  of  the  latter  so  high  as  to 
almost  look  like  stars.  Tom  has  gone  to  Charlesburg  on  a 
visit  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bentley.  On  my  return  I  found  that 
Timothy  Somerset,  father's  hired  boy  whom  we  had  left  in 
charge  of  our  place  had  deserted  it  and  returned  to  father's;  I 
thought  it  very  inconsiderate  of  father  to  allow  him  to  do  so. 
I  replaced  some  decayed  planks  in  the  stable  floor  and  made  a 
gate  for  the  encrance  leading  to  our  house,  also  made  picket  and 
rail  fence  in  front  of  our  farm;  we  are  having  very  bad  weather; 
in  the  evenings  read  Rollin's  Ancient  History.  Louis  Brodeur 
came  to  dig  the  potatoes,  but  found  them  such  a  poor  crop  that 
he  asked  me  to  release  him  from  his  contract,  which  I  of  course 
did,  as  the  crop  is  worthless  through  no  negligence  of  his;  we 
will  dig  the  best  of  them  ourselves  and  leave  the  rest  in  the 
ground;  Dined  at  G's.  on  Sunday;  they  live  better  than  they 
used  to;  have  pastry,  different  sorts  of  meat,  etc.,  more  frequently. 
If  abstaining  from  meat  is  rewarded  in  another  world,  Tom  and 
I  will  have  a  great  many  marks  to  our  credit  as  we  have  scarcely 
tasted  it  all  summer,  our  diet  consisting  almost  altogether  of 
bread  and  milk;  no,  I  take  back  that  remark,  we  will  derive  no 
credit  for  it,  for  we  do  not  believe  that  a  Great  Creator  takes  any 
pleasure  in  seeing  his  children  abstain  from  a  moderate  use  of 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

good  and  wholesome  food,  I  played  croquet  with  Ethel;  she 
seemed  to  have  less  of  that  grave  sedateness  that  usually 
characterizes  her  manners.  Had  a  lengthy  discussion  with 
father  on  the  condition  of  ancient  people  and  those  of  the 
present  day;  I  said  that  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans 
although  Pagans,  were  in  many  respects;  nobler  and  more 
civilized  nations  than  among  the  nations  who  are  guided  and  in- 
structed by  the  infallible  R.  C.  church  of  the  present  day.  Re- 
ceived a  letter  from  Jonathan  Goldsmith,  who  4  yrs.  ago  worked 
on  his  father's  farm;  he  is  now  a  doctor  m  Benton,  Iowa,  has 
bought  out  his  brother's  practice,  who  has  moved  to  Galena. 
Have  hired  father  to  teach  the  English  school  for  2  months  for 
$20,  and  Miss  Guertin  a  French  Protestant  to  teach  in  another 
part  of  the  school  district  for  4  months  at  jg  1 2  a  month,  and  Flor- 
ence Meredith  to  teach  for  2  months  at  th^ir  house  for  20;  this 
division  was  necessary  on  account  of  the  dissentient  scholars 
being  so  scattered.  Have  bought  lot  19,  next  Uncle  Herbert 
for  $800,  payable  in  4  yrs.,  have  named  it  "Oak  Hill;"  trappers  in 
early  times  gave  it  that  name  on  account  of  a  majestic  grove  of 
oaks  that  grow  on  a  hill  that  commands  a  very  magnificent  view 
of  the  surrounding  country;  about  80  acres  of  this  200  acre  lot 
are  cleared  and  contain  a  fine  orchard  of  80  trees,  and  a  very 
nice  house  and  barn;  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautifully  situated 
farms  in  this  part  of  the  country,  the  clearance  having  in  it  nu- 
merous fine  groves  of  butternut,  cherry  and  maple;  50  acres  are 
covered  with  a  large  sugar  bush  of  maples,  averaging  50  to  90 
ft.  high,  and  the  pastures  abound  with  springs  of  clear  ice  cold 
water;  the  back  of  the  lot  is  covered  with  valuable  hardwood 
and  softwood  woodland;  the  distant  view  from  the  summit  of 
the  hill  is  exceedingly  picturesque  and  beautiful;  to  the  south-west 
is  Richford,  with  its  glittering  steeple  and  sparkling  river;  in  the 
distance  are  the  summits  of  Mounts  Bethel.  Royal,  St.  Peter  and 
other  mountains;  to  the  west  lies  Aston  village,  and  several 
smaller  ones;  to  the  south-east  are  seen  the  towns  of  Melford 
and  Rawlings  and  the  hilly  country  which  surrounds  them,  on 
which  herds  of  cattle  can  be  seen  with  the  aid  of  an  opera  glass, 
between  the  hill  and  them,  lies  a  valley  in  primeval  forest  with 
clearances  interspersed  in  it;  to  the  north-east  the  view  extends  over 


History  of  the  French  in  America.  ij9 

primeval  forest  to  the  villages  of  Dudley  and  Davenport  with  the 
Cleared  land  in  their  vicinity;  the  chief  draw  back  is  that  year 
after  year  crops  have  been  taken  from  this  once  fertile  soil  till 
nature  refused  any  longer  to  repay  a  thriftless  farmer's  toil,  but 
it  has  lain  idle  for  a  few  years  and  has  recuperated  some  of  its 
former  fertility.  Mr.  St.  George,  the  agent  for  it,  reserved  the 
right  to  the  original  owners  of  half  the  profits  from  any  mineral 
that  might  be  discovered  on  it,  also  the  right  of  first  mortgage 
till  the  place  was  paid  for;  the  deed  of  sale  cost  $$,  which  I  had 
to  pay.  Rev.  L.  C.  W.  complimented  me  on  my  enterprise  and 
said  he  hoped  to  see  me  a  wealthy  farmer  yet;  showed  him  a 
letter  to  the  Montreal  paper  that  I  had  written  condemning 
the  system  of  Catholic  education  in  the  Province,  and  found 
that  his  sentiments  coincided  with  my  own.  Met  Miss  Kate 
Watts,  who  told  me  that  she  had  been  introduced  to  Tom  at  Mr. 
Hartley's.  I  was  mnch  disgusted  last  week  in  reading  a  Protes- 
tant newspaper,  T/ie  Christian  Weekly]  which  says  of  a  picture 
of  Christ  by  Gustave  Dore:  "the  face,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the 
bleeding  brow,  satisfied  the  ideal  even  better  than  that  of  Gui- 
de's Christ,  which  is  so  universally  admitted  to  be  the  nearest 
approach  to  it."  What  nonsense,  to  say  that  it  is  the  nearest 
approach  to  it  when  it  is  well  known  that  no  reliable  picture  of 
Christ  descended  to  this  age,  nor  is  it  at  all  likely  that  humble 
and  great  philanthropist  ever  went  to  the  expense  of  having  a 
portrait  of  himself  painted,  and  I  know  that  a  Protestant  editor 
is  too  much  a  man  of  intelligence  to  believe  as  the  French  Cath- 
olics here  do,  that  "when  the  Virgin  wiped  his  face  with  a  hand- 
kerchief the  portrait  of  his  face  was  miraculously  left  upon  it;" 
and  what  also  appears  more  absurd  to  me  is,  that  although  I 
have  seen  hundreds  of  Christ's  pictures,  the  great  majority  of 
them  have  but  little  resemblance  to  each  other.  Went  to  the 
Guy  family  entertainment  in  Aston  Town  Hall;  the  scenery 
and  acting  was  very  good;  there  was  a  skillful  violinist  who  with 
his  violin  imitated  a  cock  crowing,  a  door  on  rusty  hinges,  and 
2  pigs  trying  to  pass  under  a  gate;  there  were  also  athletic  per- 
formers who  exhibited  extraordinary  strength  and  agility.  At 
present  we  are  chopping  cordwood  for  Roussin  on  ou-  own  lots, 
on  land  we  intend  to  clear,  at  75cts.  a  cord.     Louis  Brodeur's 


l60  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

wife  has  a  mournful  expression  on  her  face  of  late,  as  her  hus- 
band is  becoming  an  inveterate  drunkard;  truly  from  the  beggar 
to  the  king,  all  men  have  their  sorrows  and  difficulties  to  contend 
with;  what  strange  beings  men  are,  some  have  boundless  am- 
bition, but  not  a  proportionate  amount  of  talents,  and  likebaloons 
of  weak  material,  their  ambition  drives  them  so  high  that  they 
burst  and  fall  down  in  ruin;  others  have  great  talents,  but  have 
no  energy  or  ambition  to  make  use  of  them,  and  others  appear 
to  be  totally  indifferent  through  ignorance  and  the  influence  of 
evil  associations  to  all  that  is  beautiful  and  good.  In  a  letter 
from  Cliftord  he  says;  "I  and  Richard  were  at  the  exhibition  and 
stopped  at  our  uncle's  Dr.  Steeles  houst.;  all  ourcropj  were  very 
good  except  the  potatoes,  those  Wvire  too  dry  for  roots;  our  fill 
ploughing  is  nearly  finished;  have  sold  our  sheep,  they  destroy 
and  unfit  pasture  for  cattle;  there  has  been  fine  weather  for  some 
time  past,  but  it  has  now  turned  wet;  our  new  barn  and  stable 
are  nearly  finished."  Houde's  have  moved  to  "the  White  river," 
a  tract  of  land  situated  in  the  center  of  the  triangle  formed  by 
Aston,  Preston  and  Richford;  in  one  day  they  moved  away; 
a  French  Canadian  can  almost  leave  his  place  of  residence  as 
quick  as  an  Arab  can;  thus  we  have  only  Andre  La  Rivere  as 
neighbors  now;  Moise  La  Rivere  having  moved  away  some 
time  ago,  losing  all  the  improvements  he  made  on  his  farm,  their 
wives  used  always  to  be  quarrelling.  Gave  G's  cedar  timber  to 
make  shingles  from,  for  the  new  barn  they  have  built;  they  have 
no  cedar  on  their  lot  which  is  nearly  all  high  land  and  under 
hardwood.  Our  old  homestead  has  lost  the  neat  appearance  it 
used  to  have  when  our  dear  mother  was  alive,  though  it  was  in 
the  backwoods,  everything  indicated  taste  and  refinement  during 
her  life,  and  best  of  all,  her  loving,  gentle  spirit  had  an  elevating 
influence  on  us  all,  the  whole  community  has  deteriorated  since 
her  death.  Read  a  letter  for  Joe  Vincent's  wife  from  her  sister- 
in-law — "My  dear  sister  i  rite  you  a  few  lines  to  no  if  you  are  in 
good  helth  as  this  leaves  me  at  present.  Sari  an  is  get- 
ting on  well  he  sends  his  love  to  you  also  metz  sends 
his  best  complents  to  you  all.  Marie  and  osine  send  their  best 
love  to  marie.  1  sends  my  love  to  you  all;  tell  Joe,  Metz  says 
they  must  have  a  good  spree  together  next  time  he  com^s  here^" 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  l6l 

I 

Miss  fiuertin  gave  up  teaching  the  school,  because  some  of  the 
parents  said  she  had  no  diploma;  this  however  is  unnecssary  for 
a  school  that  does  not  receive  aid  from  the  government,  and  1 
am  confident  her  education  was  suffient  to  teach  the  scholars, 
some  of  whom  are  not  out  of  the  2nd  reader.  Received  a  regis- 
tered letter  from  Uncle  Herbert  notifying  me  to  prepare  material 
for  a  fence  between  his  lots  and  mine;  Uncle  Richard  thinks  I 
have  acted  unwise  in  buying  Oak  Hill;  told  him  that  now  I  had 
decided  to  become  a  farmer  I  had  determined  to  make  it  a  success, 
also,  that  activity  and  enterprise  were  necessary  in  life,  and  that 
if  we  did  not  keep  our  energy  and  income  fully  employed  we 
would  be  in  danger  of  taking  life  too  easy  and  spending  our  sur- 
plus money  in  unnecessary  luxuries,  whereas  if  we  had  obliga- 
tions to  meet,  it  would  increase  our  thrift  and  energy;  while  at 
Meredith's  one  evening,  talked  on  politics  with  Mr.  M.,  and  later 
in  the  evening  on  the  exhibition  church  concerts  and  bazars  to 
be  held  at  Durham  with  Mrs.  M.;  Florence  and  Maud  had  an 
oyster  supper  before  leaving.  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  I  have 
understood  from  several  friends  here  that  hay  is  going  to  be  very 
dear  this  winter,  they  are  buying  it  here  and  shipping  it  to  Eng- 
land, I  write  these  few  lines  to  put  you  on  your  guard,  for  buy- 
ers are  going  around  buying  the  contents  of  barns;  I  have  no 
news.  Flora  and  baby  are  still  with  us;  when  I  last  heard  from 
Uncle  Jerrold  they  were  all  well;  I  have  had  letters  from  Richard 
and  Clifford,  they  are  both  in  good  .spirits,  I  think  from  Richard's 
letters  that  he  is  somewhat  better,  this  damp  weather  is  trying 
for  weak  lungs;  the  ground  here  is  slightly  covered  with  snow, 
with  much  love  to  you  both,  your  affec.  uncle,  Richard  I 
Goldsmith."  Had  a  long  discussion  with  Uncle  H.  and  Auut 
M.  on  the  many  inconsistancies  of  many  of  the  christian  churches; 
two  of  their  pigs  died  almost  immediately  after  they  were  fed 
this  evening,  both  exhibited  the  symptoms  of  poisoning,  it  is 
thought  that  some  Paris  green  must  have  fallen  accidentally  in- 
to their  food.  Ethel,  Phillip,  Walter,  Clifford  C.  and  myself 
played  cards,  later  on  in  the  evening  tried  to  organize  a  class 
for  study  for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  our  education;  brought  to 
their  notice  that  nearly  all  the  great  men  and  women  that  the 
earth  produced   were   educated,    and    in  many  instances   self- 

21 


l62  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  ^ 

educated,  that  we  never  could  expect  to  make  a  success  of  life 
if  we  did  not  posess  a  thorough  education,  without  which  we 
could  not  associate  with  those  people  from  whose  society  both 
pleasure  and  benefit  is  derived,  who,  instead  of  dragging  a  man 
down  lower,  as  some  society  does,  elevates  and  enobles  him, 
developing  all  those  good  qualities  that  are  necessary,  to  form  a 
noble  manhood  and  womanhood,  that  our  first  great  difficulty 
would  be,  to  exercise  that  amount  of  self-denial  and  discipline  it 
required  to  enable  us  to  say,  I  will  devote  every  moment  of  my 
life  to  what  I  consider  as  useful  and  good,  and  will  always  be  my 
earnest  endeavor  to  avoid  in  thought,  word  or  action,  everything 
that  my  better  sentiments  tell  me  are  useless,  no  matter  how 
pleasing  or  harmless  they  n  ay  appear  to  be,  if  we  once  made 
this  resolve  and  firmly  adhered  to  it  we  would  soon  acquire  a 
love  for  everything  that  is  useful  and  beautiful,  and  studies  and 
conversation,  that  we  may  now  regard  as  uninteresting  and  te- 
dious, would  soon  be  considered  by  us  as  recreation  and  pleasure; 
that  none  of  us  could  expect  to  become  anything  great  or  good 
without  unceasing  industry,  and  a  perfect  economization  and 
proper  nse  of  every  minute  and  moment  of  our  existence  on  this 
earth,  that  there  is  enough  precious  time  wasted  on  this  earth  to 
make  every  desert  a  garden  of  fruitfulness,  and  to  banish  all  pov- 
erty, ignorance  and  misery,  from  the  face  of  the  earth;  that  it  is 
our  duty  as  rational  beings  to  use  all  the  means  within  our  power 
to  elevate  ourselves  aud  our  fellow-men"  to  that  glorious  God- 
like position  that  God  ordained  that  every  man  should  occupy 
on  this  earth,  and  which  all  men  and  women  would  occupy  now 
if  they  made  a  proper  use  of  the  glorious  gilts  God  has  endowed 
them  with;  that  we  cannot  justly  offer  such  excuses  as  "have  no 
time,  or  do  not  posess  the  proper  opportunities  as  others;"  this 
is  not  the  real  cause,  in  9  cases  out  of  10  the  real  cause  is,  want 
of  true  ambition,  energy  and  perseverance,  how  will  these  ex- 
cuses defend  young  people  who  indulge  in  silly  games  and  con- 
versation when  it  would  take  20  such  lifetimes  as  theirs  to  ac- 
quire all  the  useful  and  elevating  knowledge  that  now  exists  on 
this  earth;  that  young  men  cannot  expect  to  be  much  better  than 
boors  or  clowns  when  they  gaze  vacantly  into  the  fiie  in  the 
evenings  after  their  day's  work,  or  waste  their  time  in  senseless 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  163 

chat,  losing  the  splendid  opportunities  that  the  long  Canadian 
winter  evenings  afford;  the  cost  of  the  best  educational  works 
are  so  low  that  it  places  them  in  reach  of  all  classes  of  society; 
that  it  IS  a  disgrace  to  the  present  age,  the  manner  in  which 
even  the  members  of  the  best  society  waste  their  time  while  their 
education  is  only  superficial.  We  failed  however  to  organize  a 
class.  E.xtract  from  lettrer  to  Clifford:  "I  offer  as  an  excuse  for 
my  not  writing  sooner,  our  distance  from  the  post;  bad  roads 
and  extra  work  caused  by  the  approach  of  winter,  you  can  easily 
understand  that  to  miss  Saturday's  mail  causes  a  week's  delay  as 
we  only  go  once  a  week  to  the  village."  ist  Nov.  rose  at  6, 
sharpened  our  axes;  Vincent's  called  for  our  washing  at  Mr.  V's 
request,  gave  him  a  French  bible;  cut  a  cord  of  wood  each  dur- 
ing the  day.  2nd  Nov ;  commenced  working  at  a  shanty  for 
making  saw  logs  that  has  been  made  on  Houde'a  lot  by  Mr.  J. 
Y.  Morrisson,  nephew  of  the  Mornsson  who  died  this  fall,  he 
owns  a  sawmill  at  Preston,  Mr.  Baldwin,  son-in-law  of  Mr.  M. 
deceased,  is  manager  of  the  mill  and  lumbering  operations;  he 
came  to  this  country  a  poor  lad  and  rose  by  degrees,  married 
Mr,  M's  daughter,  and  is  now  a  wealthy  man.  I  get  75cts.  a 
day  and  board;  our  usual  bill  of  fare  is  pea  soup,  potatoes,  green 
tea,  bread  and  syrup;  the  men  for  cutting  the  logs  are  put  in 
"gangs"  of  3  in  number,  one  to  cut  the  butts  and  tops  of  the 
trees,  and  measure  and  mark  the  logs  in  12  ft.  lengths,  the 
2  others  saw  them.  The  walls  inside  of  the  shanty  are  filled  up 
with  berths  above  each  other,  with  a  little  straw  underneath,  and 
our  overcoats  over  us,  form  our  complete  keeping  outfit; 
when  I  say  that  60  men  sleep  in  a  shanty  20  by  30  ft.  with  a 
fierce  fire  burning  all  night,  the  reader  can  imagine  how  close 
and  warm  it  is.  1  have  at  the  request  of  the  son  of  the  boss 
joined  his  gang  at  skidding  logs;  I  find  I  am  quite  a  favorite  with 
all  the  men  as  I  join  them  in  their  jokes,  games  and  anec- 
dotes. It  is  quite  a  sight  to  see  the  men  kneeling  at  their  morn- 
ing and  evening  prayers  with  their  eyes  wide  open;  beads  in  hand, 
taking  cognizance  of  everything  that  occurs  around  them,  and 
even  while  on  their  knees  will  occasionally  make  some  remark 
in  the  secular  conversation  and  immediately  after  rising  from 
their  knees  commence  using  indecent  language  and  oaths,  yet 


164  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  ^ 

these  men  are  not  considered  as  reprobates  by  the  holy  church 
but  are  respectable  members  in  good  standing  to  my  own  per- 
sonal knowledge;  in  evening  conversation  some  of  the  men  began 
speaking  of  Protestantism  and  said  that  Protestants  "were  the 
servants  of  the  Devil "  Eat  our  dinner  in  the  woods  when  we 
are  far  aA^ay  from  the  shanty;  I  was  surprised  how  much  frozen 
pork  and  bread  I  could  eat  at  noon;  hard  work  and  exposure  to 
cold  requires  solid  and  substantial  food.  3th  Nov.  raining  hard, 
we  all  asked  the  boss  for  a  task  to  have  our  day  count;  he  gave 
each  team  and  4  men  50  logs  to  skid;  the  boss  also  gives  out 
small  contracts  for  cutting  logs  at  $$  per  100;  the  boss  has  de- 
cided that  2  men  is  sufficient  to  roll  the  logs  on  to  the  rollways; 
because  I  dulled  my  axe  and  took  an  hour  to  sharpen  it  the  boss 
wanted  to  deduct  )^  of  a  day,  so  I  left  and  commenced  plowing 
at  Oak  Hill;  had  an  argument  with  Murphy  at  Langevin's,  his 
neighbor,  who  is  a  liberal  in  politics;  the  argument  came  to  a 
close  at  12  by  l-angevin  saying  that  a  freemason  could  be  a  good 
Catholic,  at  which  Murphy  put  his  fingers  in  his  ears  saying  that's 
enough!  that's  enough!  Made  a  olowing  bee  and  plowed  several 
acres  on  Oak  Hill.  Told  Florence  that  we  could  only  keep  the 
school  open  2  months  as  the  funds  of '.he  school  had  been  much 
diminished  on  account  of  several  dissentient  rate  payers  having 
sold  their  land  to  R.  C's;  said  it  was  immaterial  to  her.  Mrs.  M.  j 
asked  me  to  a  party  on  Dec.  i;  have  been  plowing  on  Oak  Hill 
with  our  oxen  of  late,  but  snow  prevents  further  work,  Mrs. 
Mortemain  who  has  charge  of  Norfolk  Distributing  Home  came 
to  see  Jerrold;  she  visits  all  the  Home  boys  to  see  that  they  are 
well  treated.  Went  to  Meredith's,  played  whist  with  Florence, 
Mrs.  M.  and  Maud,  Florence  also  favored  us  with  music  and 
singing.  Tom  hus  sold  the  two  colts  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  one  nearly 
a  yr  and  the  other  5  months  for  ;g6o.  20th  Nov.  heavy  snow 
storm;  read  history;  Persians,  Egyptians  and  Carthagenians  are 
far  inferior  to  the  ancient  Greeks  in  civilization  and  virtue.  Ex- 
tract from  a  letter  to  Clifford  on  war:  all  lovers  of  virtue,  liberty 
and  progress  should  use  their  influence  towards  encouraging  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth  to  abolish  war  and  adopt  the  more 
humane  and  civilized  method  of  arbitration.  If  even  3  of  the  most 
civilized  nations  declared  that  war  must  cease  their  influence  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 63 

power  would  be  sufficient  to  prevent  all  civilized  nations  from 
going  to  war  and  eventually  induce  all  civilized  nations  to  dis- 
band their  armies  and  have  only  a  police  force  to  preserve  the 
peace  among  the  lawless  portion  of  its  citizens;  this  would  save 
the  civilized  world  millions  of  money  annually  as  well  as  put  to 
nobler  use  the  energies  and  talents  of  millions  of  men;  the  great 
difficulty  to  suppress  war  is  to  get  a  few  of  the  most  powerful  and 
civilized  nations  to  make  an  earnest  eftort  for  that  purpose,  th'i 
done  the  object  is  more  than  half  accomplished,  yet  it  should  not 
be  difficult  to  suppress  war  among  the  christian  nations,  for  it  is 
in  direct  contradiction  to  their  religion  as  well  as  to  the  better 
sentiments  of  humanity.  It  is  a  great  inconsistency  to  allow  na- 
tions to  murder  thousands  of  men  wholesale  and  not  to  ailow 
individuals  to  do  it  in  retail,  who  are  punished  with  death  for  what 
in  many  instances  may  justly  be  termed  retail  war,  even  though 
they  had  great  provocation;  yet  nations  are  allowed  to  waste 
millions  of  money  and  murder  millions  of  men  for  the  most  trif- 
ling of  causes.  The  cost  of  actual  war  is  not  the  greatest  but 
that  of  keeping  large  standing  armies,  some  nations  keeping  y^ 
a  million  men  in  a  state  of  idleness  which  heavily  taxes  the  re- 
maining citizens  to  suppoat  tbem,  also  the  loss  war  always  causes 
when  it  passes  through  a  land,  cities  are  burnt,  the  harvests  are 
spoiled  and  the  nations  wealth  wasted  by  war'*^  turmoil.  There 
have  been  enough  proofs  however  of  its  cruelty  and  destructive- 
ness  in  the  hi.story  of  the  world  to  leave  only  one  argument  for 
it  that  is  "that  it  is  a  cruel  necessity  that  cannot  be  done  away 
with,"  a  senseless  argument  at  best,  as  there  has  never  been  a 
real  effort  made  to  accomplish  it,  therefore  until  a  great  many 
attempts  are  made  and  are  failures,  then  and  then  only  will  the 
"cruel  necessity"  argument  have  an  appearance  of  truth  in  it.  If 
the  nations  can  have  international  postal  regulations  and  laws  for 
the  pursuit  of  criminals  from  one  country  into  another;  why  can- 
not civilized  nations  abolish  war  as  slavery  and  many  other  cruel- 
ties have  been  abolished.  It  simply  needs  one  united  earnest  ef- 
fort of  a  few  of  the  most  civilized  nations  to  remove  from  the  civ- 
ilized world  this  error  and  disgrace  of  the  age  we  live  in.  The 
certainty  of  the  great  increase  of  happiness  and  prosperity  of  na- 
tions thro  the  blessings  of  peace  should  make  all  civilized  nations 


l66  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

unite  and  decide  on  some  means  of  preventing  the  devastation 
and  ruin  caused  by  war  in  the  civilized  countries  at  least.  While 
at  Meredith's  Florence  gave  me  a  letter  to  give  to  Maud  at  Rev. 
L.  C.  W's,  but  as  I  had  several  other  engagements  I  forgot  to  do 
so,  on  arriving  home  enclosed  it  with  the  following  note  and  had 
it  posted  by  a  neighbor.  "Dear  Miss  Meredith,  I  apologize  for 
my  great  negligence  of  yesterday  evening  in  not  giving  to  your 
sister  the  note  you  gave  me;  a  mistake  like  this  in  commercial 
transactions  might  be  overlooked  but  with  a  lady  it  is  inexcusa- 
ble; trusting  however  that  you  will  accept  this  expression  of  my 
regret  for  my  great  forgetfulness  I  remain  yours  sincerely,  A.  N. 
Howard."  I  have  again  entered  Morrison's  shanty.  Nicholas 
came  out  to  see  us,  was  surprised  to  see  me  working  at  the  shanty; 
had  a  discussion  with  the  clerk  of  the  shanty  who  is  a  bigoted 
Catholic,  one  of  those  I  saw  that  burned  the  bibles  of  a  bible  seller 
in  Delage's  store;  it  was  on  the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope;  I 
argued  that  even  a  devout  Catholic  could  not  with  justice  advo- 
cate temporal  power  for  the  Pope;  the  clerk  said  Ferdinand  of 
Spain  gave  the  Pope  a  certain  amount  of  Terri'-.ory  and  what  right 
had  the  Italians  to  take  it  from  him,  I  replied  P^erdinand  could 
not  give  what  did  not  belong  to  him,  kings,  emperors  and  princes 
only  rule  "by  the  consent  of  the  people"  and  have  no  power  to 
transfer  their  authority  to  another  unless  it  receives  the  sanction 
of  the  people,  but  allow  for  arguments  sake  the  Italian  people 
consented  to  this  transfer  it  only  gave  the  Pope  power  to  rule 
as  long  as  his  government  pleased  the  people  or  at  least  the  ma- 
jority of  them,  the  moment  the  majority  thought  his  temporal 
rule  injurious  to  the  country  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  take  away 
his  temporal  authority;  in  barbarous  ages  it  might  have  been 
different  when  people  were  fools  enough  to  believe  kings  reigned 
by  divine  right  but  in  this  enlightened  age  monarchs  can  only 
reign  by  the  consent  of  the  people.  The  Italians  under  the  Popes 
were  in  a  pitiable  state  of  ignorance,  superstition  and  vice  and 
crime  flourished  throughout  the  land  as  is  generally  the  case 
where  liberty  and  liberal  education  have  almost  ceased  to  exist 
(Clerk)  whose  fault  was  this;  it  was  the  Pope's;  all  the  schools 
excepting  a  few  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  taught 
chiefly  to  the  mass  of  the  population  how  to   repeat  their  cate- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 6/ 

chism  and  prayers  in  the  same  manner  as  they  now  do  in  this 
province;  even  when  Engh'shmen  wanted  to  light  Rome  by  gas 
tlie  Pope  would  not  permit  it;  is  it  to  be  wonderad  that  the  peo- 
gle  rebelled  when  they  saw  nearly  all  other  nations  ahead  of  them 
in  prosperity  and  happiness,  (Clerk)  but  it  was  not  the  Pope  who 
prevented  the  progress  of  education,  he  has  always  encouraged 
it.  How  then  is  it  that  the  inhabitants  of  protestant  and  infidel 
countries  are  more  enlightened;  prosperous  and  educated  than 
those  under  Catholicism,  even  the  most  partial  Catholic  has  to 
acknowledge  this,  for  the  condition  of  the  European  and  Amer- 
ican protestant  and  catholic  nations  of  the  present  day  clearly 
make  it  "a  self  evident  truth,"  but  we  need  not  leave  Canada  to 
see  how  much  superior  the  republican  form  of  spiritual  govern- 
ment of  protestantism  is  to  the  one  man  ecclesiastical  government 
of  Rome;  compare  protestant  Ontario  with  Catholic  Quebec  and 
even  you  cannot  deny  that  the  protestants  are  better  educated 
and  more  prosperous  in  Ontario  than  the  French  catholics  of 
Quebec,  (Clerk)  are  not  the  Jesuits  the  best  educated  men  in  the 
world;  not  the  best  but  one  of  the  best  educated  class  of  men  as 
are  also  the  priests  of  your  church,  but  this  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  masses  of  the  people  and  if  catholics  are  well  educated 
in  Gt.  Britain,  Germany,  France,  the  United  States  and  a  few 
other  countries  they  are  indebted  to  modern  civilization  and  pro- 
testantism for  it  and  not  to  their  own  church,  but  I  have  diverged 
from  the  subject  of  our  discussion,  which  is  did  the  Italians  have 
a  right  to  rebel  against  the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope.  I 
claim  that  as  the  Pope  did  not  govern  them  according  to  the 
wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  Italians  the  people  had  a  perfect 
right  to  deprive  him  of  his  authority  and  establish  another  sov- 
ereign of  their  own  choice;  since  they  have  done  this  Italy  has 
begun  to  improve,  schools  are  being  established  on  a  more  liberal 
basis  and  the  nation  is  rising  rapidly  in  power  and  importance  in 
Europe  and  will  be  no  longer  a  bye  word  among  nations  as  a 
people  worthy  of  contempt  for  having  fallen  from  being  the  great- 
est nation  of  the  earth  to  one  of  the  weakest  and  most  contempt- 
ible. In  the  middle  of  Dec.  I  worked  for  Murphy  with  our  oxen 
at  skidding  logs.  Herbert  C,  seems  to  be  in  love  with  Margaret 
Guernsey;  I  am  sure  I  do  not  admire  his  taste;  in  the  first  place 


l68  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

the  girl  does  not  care  for  him  besides  she  is  an  invalid  subject  to 
fits  and  is  a  plain  uneducated  girl.  Went  to  a  party  at  Mere- 
dith's on  Nicholas's  birthday,  several  Aston  and  Preston  people 
were  there,  had  an  enjoyable  evening;  dancing,  music  and  con- 
versation; J.  Murphy  was  staying  at  Brodeur's,  but  quarreled 
with  Mrs.  B.  because  he  said  she  was  ignorant  in  arithmetic — 
Eve's  proud  spirit  rose  within  her.  With  haughty  step  she 
crossed  the  room;  with  anger  in  her  hazel  eyes,  she  on  old  John 
pronounced  his  doom.  As  I  do  not  know  ho'.v  to  count,  you 
from  my  house  can  now  depart,  and  live  with  those  that  better 
count;  thus  through  your  fault  old  friends  must  part.  Worked 
a  few  weeks  for  Murphy;  had  a  most  disagreeable  time  skidding 
logs  in  frosty  weather  on  low,  swampy  land  for  $2  a  day  for  our 
oxen  and  myself,  and  have  had  since  then  a  very  bad  cold. 
Murphy  is  greatly  pleased  with  a  speech  of  Mr.  Bright  of  the 
English  Parliament,  he  said:  I  am  sure  Ireland  will  get  home 
rule  and  that  the  Queen  will  favor  it.  Could  not  convince  him 
that  the  Queen  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  Received 
circulars  from  G.  Ghaffe  of  N.  Y.,  about  phonography,  offering 
to  sell  a  book  for  $2.10,  or  to  give  a  primary  course  of  instruc- 
tion by  mail  for  ;$  10  or  a  3  months  course  for  $2$;  sent  two  beau- 
tiful Christmas  cards  to  Florence  and  Maud,  cost  ^5,  also  some 
nice  ones  to  the  Miss  Grant's  and  Mabel  W.  G.  boys  say  they 
do  not  care  whether  Richard  or  Clifford  come  on  a  visit  here  or 
not,  because  they  never  invite  them  to  their  place;  they  should 
remember  that  people  must  have  passable  manners  at  least  to  be 
invited  into  good  society.  Wrote  to  uncle  Jerrold  a  long  letter 
defending  my  purchase  of  Lot  29.  People  are  very  unwise  to  buy 
goods  on  credit,  have  discovered  that  there  is  $20  difference  be- 
tween our  account  at  Delage's  store  and  his  one;  storekeepers 
generally  charge  higher  for  each  article  when  sold  on  credit 
which  quickly  mounts  up.  The  English  Liberals  do  not  believe 
that  England's  interests  require  "the  sick  man"  to  be  doctored  to 
keep  him  alive.  The  Quebec  government  is  going  to  give  grants 
of  phosphates  to  agricultural  societies  instead  of  money,  which 
is  a  good  idea.  The  Conservatives  throughout  Canada  are  jubil- 
ant over  the  success  of  their  policy  of  protection,  also  the  success 
of  their  premier  sir  J.  Macdonald,  in  forming  a  company  of  mil- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I69 

lionaires  in  England  and  the  U.  S.  for  the  construction  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  railway;  it  is  to  build  the  rly  in  10  yrs  and  re- 
ceives certain  grants  of  land,  portions  of  the  road  already  cOn^ 
structed  by  the  government  and  a  bonus  of  money.  Went  with 
a  party  of  the  shanty  men  into  the  French  country  to  St.  Leonard, 
they  bought  several  bottles  of  whiskey  "pour  nous  rechaufifer," 
or  in  English  to  keep  us  warm;  reached  the  house  of  the  boss 
at  \2  at  night,  his  mother  got  up  and  gave  us  for  supper  bread, 
milk  and  pork,  a  rather  disagreeable  mixture;  slept  with  his  son 
Joseph  on  a  buffalo  robe  on  the  floor.  This  is  a  strange  country; 
to-day  I  was  in  coarse  overall  clothes  working  with  common  la- 
borers, to-night  taking  a  drive  through  the  country  with  our  hand- 
some sleigh,  fine  horses,  silver  mounted  harness,  a  $60  fur  overcoat 
and  a  ^200  gold  v.  atch,  and  I  am  now  sleeping  like  a  tramp  on  the  , 
floor  with  a  coat  under  my  head  for  a  pillow;  such  is  life  with  its 
upsand  downs  pleasures  and  vexations,  happy  is  that  man  that  can 
accommodate  himself  to  its  many  changes;  this  is  a  nice  farm  with 
comfortable  barn,  stables  and  house  all  whitewashed  as  usual,  but 
very  neat  and  clean;  the  farm  is  all  cleared  except  a  sugar  bush;  this 
part  of  the  country  is  all  cleared  except  a  small  strip  of  wood- 
land here  and  there  reserved  for  fuel.  St.  Leonard  is  comprised 
of  only  a  church,  a  few  houses  and  a  store,  all  whitewa.ihed, 
church,  houses,  fences,  well,  poles  etc.;  went  to  mass  with  the 
family;  the  priest,  a  clever  and  eloquent  man,  preached  a  very 
argumentative  sermon  in  defense  of  Romanism,  almost  thought 
he  had  preached  it  specially  for  me;  after  mass  the  sons  ot  th6 
boss  attired  themselves  in  the  gayest  of  apparel  and  asked  me  if 
'vien  tu  avec  nous  pour  avoir  egard  a  les  filled'  or  in  English, 
'will  you  come  with  us  and  pay  attention  to  the  girls."  Of 
course  as  they  had  five  nice  looking  sisters  I  could  not  commit 
such  a  breach  ol  ettiquette  as  to  leave  them,  although  it  would 
have  been  more  agreeable  to  Tne  to  have  driven  with  the  boys 
10  or  12  miles,  and  seen  some  more  of  the  country;  one  of 
the  sisters  however  rewarded  me  with  her  company  the  whole 
of  the  afternoon  and  evening,  even  though  12  or  13  young  beaus 
came  from  the  surrounding  country,  I  am  afraid  however  that 
she  thought  I  was  dull  and   uninteresting,   for  although  I  tried 

my  "level  best"  to  make  my  conversation  as  interesting  as  pos- 

22 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  FREN'CH  IN  AMERICA. 

sible,  it  is  utterly  beyond  my  conversational  powers  to  confine 
my  conversation  for  6  long  hours  to  endearing  sentences  and 
sentimental  flattery,  the  reader  can  well  imagine  the  predicament 
I  was  in,  sitting  there  by  that  girl  with  3  or  4  young  men  doing 
their  utmost  to  make  me  "eat  oats"  or  in  other  words,  have  her 
leave  me  and  go  and  converse  with  one  of  them;  and  what  add- 
ed to  the  awkwardness  of  the  situation,  general  conversation  is 
not  considered  polite,  each  beau  must  confine  his  attention  and 
conversation  to  "his  own  girl."  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  of  French  customs  and  manners  that  I 
acquired  from  the  Houde  Girls,  I  believe  I  should  have  been 
driven  to  despair,  and  have  left  the  house  with  some  excuse  and 
an  apology.  Spent  Christmas  day  partly  at  father's  and  Uncle 
Herbert's;  I  begin  to  think  that  Uncle  Herbert's  love  for  us  is 
not  very  great;  he  wrote  to  uncle  in  England  saying  that  we  had 
sold  rails  to  Meredith's  at  5^  price,  which  had  not  one  word  of 
truth  in  it,  for  we  cleared  $20  profit  on  the  rails  we  sold  them; 
paid  Guertin  what  we  were  owing  him,  he  is  the  most  obliging 
and  kind-hearted  Frenchman  I  ever  met,  and  in  justice  I  must 
also  say,  one  of  the  most  devout  Catholics.  Uncle  Richard's 
supposition  that  hay  would  be  dear  is  incorrect,  as  it  only  sells 
for  $$  per  100  bushels  of  1 5  lbs.  Visited  Mr.  Dolliver,  an  honest, 
genial  old  farmer,the  family  consisting  of  brothers,  sons,  nephews 
and  uncles,  forms  a  compact  and  neat  little  settlement  of  20 
families,  all  of  the  same  name,  who  support  a  neat  little  Episco- 
pal church  of  their  own.  I  pay  the  village  barber  5octs.  a  month 
for  hair  cutting  and  shaving;  I  often  feel  that  if  I  could  only  act 
according  to  the  better  sentiments  of  my  nature, how  much  better 
and  truly  hnnpier  I  should  be.  Jan.  i8th  '81.  "My  dear  Tom 
and  Arthur;  immediately  after  receiving  your  letters  I  had  your 
buildings  insured  for  $1000,  cost  ;$io  for  3  yrs.  Our  new  barn 
at  the  "Elms"  when  finished  will  h&ve  a  stabling  capacity  for  80 
head  of  cattle;  the  building  cost  an  unusual  price  as  there  was 
not  enough  water  in  the  rivers,  and  for  what  little  spruce  and 
hemlock  lumber  the  millmen  had,  they  charged  ^10  per  1000  It; 
the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  spruce  or  hemlock  will  be  worth 
i520  per  1000  ft.  at  your  place;  must  now  close  this  note;  love 
from  your  aunt  and  cousins  to  you  both;  your  affec.  uncle;  R. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I/I 

S.  Goldsmith."  The  Elms,  "My  dear  Arthur,  we  have  bought 
5  tons  hay  at  $7  a  ton,  and  hardwood  stovewood  at  $2  a  cord; 
the  best  quality  of  horse  hay  is  |>i  a  ton  higher;  lately  there  has 
been  a  great  many  auctions  around  here,  but  the  things  a^e  sold 
at  full  value,  as  the  friends  of  the  seller  buy  them  in  when  enough 
is  not  bid  for  them;  I  was  sorry  to  hear  that  you  had  bought 
Oak  Hill,  as  you  will  be  likely  to  have  .lOuble  with  the  G's;  we 
have  had  our  stables  whitewashed  inside,  as  it  makes  it  lighter 
and  destroys  vermin;  we  have  had  the  barn-yard  fenced  to  have 
a  place  for  the  cattle  to  sun  themselves  in,  without  going  astpay; 
with  love  from  Richard  and  myself,  I  am  your  ever  loving  cousin, 
C.  H.  Goldsmith."  Montreal,  6th  Nov ;  "my  dear  Tom  and  Arthur, 
in  reply  to  yours  of  the  30th  I  herewith  enclose  you  $42,  and 
have  given  you  credit  for  the  $6  you  sent  me  for  insurance,  and 
the  $24  on  the  account  you  owe  me,  which  is  now  only  ^134, 
I  should  have  asked  one  of  you  into  town  this  quarter,  but  Flora, 
her  nurse  and  baby,with  the  houseful  of  other  guests  are  with  us 
and  there  are  no  spare  bedrooms  at  present,  but  I  shall  exf>ect 
both  of  you  in  on  a  visit  at  Christmas;  I  was  sorry  to  hear  that 
you  had  bought  lot  29,  you  are  crowding  a  heavy  burden 
on  your  shoulders,  I  expressed  my  opinion  fully  and  freely  on  a 
former  occasion,  on  the  subject  of  buying  more  land;  lot  29  was 
the  most  objectionable  lot  you  could  have  bought,  for  the  sim- 
ple reason,  that  a  week  after  you  take  possession,  your  Uncle 
Herbert  and  family  will  quarrel  with  you;  take  my  advice,  throw 
this  burden  off  your  shoulders  as  quickly  as  you  can;  had  you 
got  it  for  nothing  it  would  have  been  an  injury  to  you;  you  have 
more  land  in  your  lots  than  you  will  ever  require;  your  affec. 
uncle,  R.  I.  Goldsmith."  If  I  am  to  be  eternally  dictated  to  in 
this  way,  even  though  it  is  by  kind  and  lovmg  uncles;  I  shall 
be  obliged  to  go  out  into  the  world  alone;  I  can  use  my  own 
judgment  and  be  dependant  on  no  one.  London.  "My  dear 
Arthur;  I  received  your  letter  in  the  IPeek/y  Star  on  the  system 
of  education  in  Quebec;  do  not  be  angry  with  me  when  I  tell 
you  that  you  never  can  be  a  successful  writer;  I  thought  you  . 
had  passed  that  infant  age  when  every  young  donkey  fancies 
himself  a  poet  or  an  author,  or  destined  to  do  great  things,  the 
moon  fit  generally  lasts  up  to  the  age  of  14,  but  seldom  does  the 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

dominion  of  donkcydom  bother  a  man  at  your  time  of  life;  mil- 
lions of  letters  have  been  written  on  the  same  subject,  but  a  more 
common  place,  childish,  drivelling  letter  I  never  saw,  if  I  were 
not  your  friend  it  would  be  much  wiser  on  my  part  to  say  nothing 
against  your  letter,  for  it  is  human  nature  to  have  bitter  feelings 
against  anyone  that  upsets  the  hobby  of  another,  but  I  have  done 
my  duty  and  told  you  the  naked  truth,  however  disagreeable;  I 
hope  the  land  you  have  bought  will  not  with  your  other  farm  be 
too  much  for  you  both,  although  a  great  bargain;  however  as 
you  have  bought  it,  stick  to  it,  and  let  the  world  see  that  you 
have  not  made  a  foolish  transaction,  which  I  trust  and  hope  you 
never  will  so  far  as  poor  human  vanity  can  go,  still  I 
must  say  I  have  every  confidence  in  your  manly  good  sense, 
perseverence  and  steadiness,  and  I  believe  the  many  prayers  of 
your  dear  mother's  loving  heart,  will  and  have  been  heard,  and 
that  you  will  be  good  and  happy;  with  much  love  to  you  both, 
your  loving  uncle,  Jerrold  B.  Goldsmith."  He  does,  I  must  say 
play  havoc  with  my  essay  on  education,  but  I  shall  yet  show 
him  that  I  will,  and  shall  be  a  successful  writer,  I  am  glad  at  all 
events  that  he  is  favorably  disposed  to  my  purchase  of  Oak  Hill, 
if  I  can  only  bring  Uncle  Richard  to  reason  about  it,  I  will  work 
early  and  late  to  make  it  the  finest  estate  in  these  parts.  In  a 
letter  from  Uncle  Jerrold  to  Uncle  Richard  he  says,  "if  I  could 
get  a  large  tract  of  land  bye  and  bye  I  would  purchase  it.  It  is 
very  unfortunate  of  me,  not  to  have  invested  my  money  in  gas 
shares,  during  the  scare  or  panic  on  the  discovery  of  the  electric 
light,  they  have  risen  33  per  ct.  since  then;  possibly  electricity 
might  some  day  supersede  gas;  but  I  do  not  see  why  electricity 
may  not  be  applied  to  gas  in  its  present  form,  and  so  increase  its 
illuminating  power;  I  suppose  the  Howard  boys'  father  does  not 
interfere  with  them  now;  in  a  letter  to  Tom  and  I  he  says,  "we 
have  had  potatoes  exhibited  here  (larger  than  your  body)  from 
Southern  America,  but  there  are  drawbacks  in  these  countries; 
the  atmosphere  is  overcharged  with  electricity,  human  life  is 
much  shorter,  the  human  passions  are  violent,  and  life  is  every 
way  unsafe;  on  my  fields  I  should  prefer  the  small  and  more 
numerous  vegetables  which  are  more  life-  nourishing  and  whole- 
some than  the  big  and  less  abundant  ones  of  a  more  enervating 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA,  1/3 

climate;  Gqd  has  given  to  every  part  of  the  world,  blessings  irt 
difterent  forms,  in  Canada  you  have  long  cold  winters,  but  a  clear 
invigorating  air  which  produces  vigorous  nerves,  and  stro  ig 
limbs  with  a  clear  complexion;  I  would  rather  live  in  that  Can- 
ada of  yours  than  to  be  a  dried  up,  cynical  profane  Yankee  with 
his  shrivelled  belly,  yellow  skin  and  nose-trumpet  slang,  too  of- 
ten giving  to  the  world,  utterances  offensive  and  immoral;  you 
write  sensibly  and  truly  on  the  condition  of  Ireland.  On  what 
part  of  the  map  can  you  find  "no  man's  lar.d?"  Ans.:  in  Ireland 
with  the  Irish."  What's  mine  is  my  own,  but  what's  yours  is 
everybody's  else;  what  confusion  there  is  in  Ireland,  first  land- 
lord's, then  farmers,  then  tillers,  and  last  of  all  a  class  of  thieves 
and  cut-throats.  Waterford,  Nov.,  1880.  "Dear  Arthur;  your 
long  and  interesting  letter  arrived,  and  was  not  less  welcome 
for  being  very  unexpected,  Tom  and  you  seem  to  have  had  a 
hard  struggle  at  first  on  your  land,  but  you  appear  to  have  suc- 
ceeded well,  I  should  like  to  go  and  see  you,  but  I  never  expect 
to  have  that  pleasure  as  I  have  not  been  in  good  health  for  the 
last  few  yrs.;  I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  of  the  death  of  your  mother, 
I  had  reason  to  know  what  a  terrible  loss  it  must  have  been  to 
you,  it  is  no  wonder  that  you  who  had  no  opportunity  of  study- 
ing Irish  affairs  should  think  some  of  the  demands  made  by  the 
Irish  people  to  be  unjust,  even  many  people  who  have  lived  all 
their  lives  in  Ireland  have  not  been  able  to  agree  about  the  Irish 
land  question,  let  alone  Home  Rule,  with  regard  to  the  land,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  Irish  farmers  have  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration doiiC  nearly  all  that  has  been  done  towards  reclaimmg 
the  land  from  a  state  of  bog  and  forest  to  its  present  state,  and 
have  built  most  of  the  barns,  houses  and  fences  on  it;  the  present 
sevants,  representin^j  t^oth  themselves  and  their  ancestors  have 
a  large  claim  to  a  grtiat  part,  perhaps  nearly  half  of  the  present 
value  of  the  land,  yet  they  have  almost  no  legal  claim,  and  this 
is  what  causes  the  bitterness  of  feeling  between  landlords  and 
their  sevants,  feeling  that  in  many  cases  they  have  been  legally 
robbed  of  their  life's  labor  by  unprincipled  landlords  raising  their 
rent;  I  agree  with  you  that  there  is  not  much  use  trying  to  fix 
rents  by  laws;  what  I  desire  to  see  is,  the  same  thing  that  was 
done  in  Prussia  70  yrs.  ago  with  most  satisfactory  results;  the 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.    ' 

Prussian  Government  took  up  the  estates  of  the  large  landlords 
giving  the  owners  bonds  for  the  full  value  of  their  land  and  al- 
lowed the  servants  to  buy  the  farms,  paying  the  price  to  the 
government  in  yearly  instalments,  so  that  now  Prussia  is  a  coun- 
try of  contented  pleasant  proprietors,  and  Gt.  Britain  and  Ireland 
are  almost  th,  only  European  countries  in  which  almost  all  the 
farmers  do  not  posess  their  land;  France  is  another  country 
that  has  been  greatly  benefited  by  the  conversion  of  sevant  farm- 
ers into  proprietors  of  the  land  they  cultivate.  Elmbrooke  15th 
November  '80.  Dear  uncle;  yours  reed,  last  Saturday,  with 
quarterly  allowance  enclosed;  some  time  after  Christmas;  either 
Tom  or  myself  will  be  able  to  accept  your  kind  invitation.  I  re- 
gret that  the  purchase  of  Oak  Hill  is  against  your  wishes,  and  I 
suppose  I  shall  have  to  dispose  of  it  if  you  so  decide;  we  have 
rented  .one  of  the  sugar  bushes  on  it  for  50  lbs.  of  sugar,  and  the 
man  has  "to  rig  the  bush  himself;"  there  has  been  small  snow- 
falls last  week,  but  they  have  disappeared  as  quickly  as  they 
came;  xtracted  from  the  guide  book  of  Montreal  in  a  condensed 
form  for  the  information  of  the  reader,  "Montreal  derives  its 
name  from  Mount  Royal,  the  name  given  to  a  mountain  in  its 
vicinity,  by  Jaqu  Cartier,  (on  his  visit  to  the  town  of  J  j- 
chelaga,  situated  at  the  base  of  the  mountain)  in  1535;  it  is  sit- 
uated on  an  island  formed  by  the  confluence  of  the  Ottawa  and 
St.  Lawrence  rivers;  in  1628  it  only  consisted  of  3  or  4  log  houses: 
in  1642  Maisoneuve  and  his  40  associates  planted  the  colony  of 
Vilie  Marie  de  Montreal,  to  them  belongs  the  honor  of  being 
the  founders  of  this  city  of  palaces;  it  was  surrounded  by  hos- 
tile savages  for  120  yrs.  and  struggled  through  the  vicssitudes 
of  floods,  earthquake  and  war  until  1747,  when  it  was  described 
as  a  city  containing  several  churches;  colleges,  and  houses  of 
stone  and  wood  neatly  built,  and  surrounded  by  a  high  wall  and 
ditch.  In  1760  it,  with  the  rest  of  French  Territory  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  English;  the  first  newspaper  established  in  Mon- 
treal was  an  English  paper,  named  "the  Gazette"  in  1778.  Its 
contemporary,  "the  Herald  was  first  published  in  181 1;  in  1801 
two  acts  of  parliament  authorized  the  formation  of  a  company 
to  supply  the  city  with  water,  and  another  act  granted  the  pe- 
titions of  the  citizens  to  remove  the  fortifications;  the  first  steamer 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  i/S 

that  navigated  the  St.  Lawrence  was  built  by  an  Englishman,  J 
Molson.  in  i8o9,which  was  2  yrs.  after  Fulton's  successful  efforts 
at  steam  navigation:  Canada's  first  bank  was  the  bank  of  Montreal, 
established  by  English-Canadians  in  1817,  with  a  capital  of  only  a 
few  hundred  thousand, and  it  has  increased  to  Si  2,000,000  in  1880; 
Montreal's  streets  w.ere  lighted  for  the  first  time  in  1 8 19;  2  years 
later  the  lachitie  canal  was  commenced;  in  1850  a  provincial  ex- 
hibition was  held;  in  '56  the  grand  trunk  railway  was  opened  for 
travel;  in  '60  the  Prince  of  Wales  opened  formally  Victoria 
bridge,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  being  9,000,000  ft.  long; 
in  1760  its  population  numbered  3,000,  in  1880,  150,000;  the 
value  01  its  imparts  in  1833  were  valued  at  ;^5, 160,000,  in  1853, 
;ii5 1 6,000,000,  and  in  1873,^54,287,000;  its  imports  in  1833  were 
$3475,000,  in  1873,  Mo.460,000;  in  1833  it  had  133  sea  going 
vessels,  in  1873,  720;  it  is  noted  for  its  excellent  quays,  which 
ar  J  built  of  limestone  and  forms  a  continuous  display  of  masonry, 
unequalled  on  this  continent;  there  are  at  present  5  lines  of 
steamers  plying  between  Montreal  and  Great  Britain;  Montreal 
was  not  incorporated  until  1832;  the  largest  theatre  only  seats 
I2C0  people;  its  largest  church  12,000,  and  is  255  ft.  long  and 
has  2  towers  220  ft.  high,  its  bell  weighs  29,400  lbs.;  Christ's 
church  is  187x70  ft.  and  its  spire  224  ft.;  some  of  the  railways 
are  G.  T.  R.  R'y  of  Canada;  South  Eastern;  Quebec,  Montreal 
and  Ottawa;  Bo.ston  &  Montreal  Air  line;  Deleware  and  Hud- 
son Canal  R'y.  Some  of  its  markets  cost  over  ^  of  a  million 
dollars;  the  mills  and  water  power  in  its  vicinity  give  employ- 
ment to  over  10,000  persons;  it  has  3  telegraph  companys;  its 
street  cars  pass  at  intervals  of  8  minutes.  Letters  that  I  rec'd 
in  1880  that  I  forgot  to  enter  in  their  right  places:  "Grange, 
Watcrford,  Dec.  '80.  Dear  Arthur,  I  send  you  and  Tom  the 
history  of  Ireland,  by  A.  M.  Sullivan,  M.  P.;  I  recommend  you 
to  skip  the  early  part  of  Irish  history  and  begin  about  1000  A. 
D.  Mr.  S.  as  you  will  perceive  is  a  Catholic,  but  I  think  he  is 
very  fair  ni'"'  ded.  Notice  his  remarks  about  Henry  II,  and  the 
Roman  invaders  of  Ireland,  who  got  beyond  his  control  and 
quarreled  amongst  themselves.  Sullivan  thinks  Henry  would 
have  ruled  Ireland  well  if  he  had  time  to  attend  to  it.  I  see  col- 
lections are  being  made  for  the  Parnell  defence   fund   in  Canada. 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

A  few  days  ago  I  attended  a  meeting  where  he  spoke,  10,000 
people  were  present,  your  cousin,  truly,  E.  Howard."  March, 
1880;  extract  from  letter  from  uncle  Jerrold:  "Since  I  heard  of 
Arthur's  mad  army  freak  I  thought  it  right  to  make  enquiries 
and  find  that  an  officers  pay  is  only  5s  and  3d.  for  the  first  3 
years,  and  that  he  has  to  pay  5s.  a  day  for  his  mess,  and  that  no 
man  can  remain  in  a  regiment  under  ^200  a  year.  Army  life  is 
unhealthy  shabby,  monotonous,  mean  and  subservient  drudgery; 
in  a  table  published,  out  of  the  whole  British  army  only  3  have 
risen  from  the  ranks  to  colonel;  the  pay  of  a  colonel  here  is  little 
iitore  than  what  a  good  mechanic  can  earn.  Arthur  is  not  fitted 
for  the  army;  the  polished  humbug  and  flattery  of  their  artificial 
manners  would  not  suit  him;  neither  would  the  change  of 
climate,  damp  beds,  poor  diet  and  close  air  suit  his  body;  he 
would  pine  for  his  farm  and  freedom  and  forest  and  die."  Ex- 
tract from  a  letter  from  Uncle  Richard:  "Would  you  please  try 
and  get  some  contractor  out  your  way  to  take  a  contract  of  build- 
ing a  barn  on  the  Elms  for  us;  the  lowest  bidder  arouud  here 
was  $650.  I  expect  to  go  out  and  see  you  shortly,  Arthur  can 
drive  back  to  town  with  me;  when  I  see  you  we  shall  have  a 
long  chat  about  farming  prospects."  Extract  from  letter  from 
uncle  Jerrold:  "And  the  bright  day  will  come  soon  when 
emperors  and  kings  will  cease  to  iet  men  to  cut  each  others 
throats  and  call  it  heroism.  How  is  your  uncle  Herbert's 
daughter?  Does  she  know  how  to  make  butter,  cheese,  and  how 
to  manage  a  dairy?  Does  she  know  how  to  manage -a  garden, 
how  to  make  and  mend  clothes,  cook  food  properly  and  keep 
accounts?  If  she  does  not  know  everyone  of  these  things  1 
shall  not  leave  her  a  penny  in  my  will."  April,  1880.  Dear 
Arthur:  Yours  in  pencil  received;  Mr.  Murphy  who  addressed 
it  reduces  me  in  the  social  scale,  he  calls  me  Mr.  Goldsmith, 
putting  aside  my  right  to  M.  D.  Mr.  i.i  only  used  to  address 
servants  or  very  humble  individuals,  we  are  all  esquires  now  a 
days.  In  the  U.  S.  they  have  a  good  plan  of  putting  the  name 
alone  without  any  appendages.  I  do  not  care  how  I  am  address- 
ed, but  some  people  are  very  sensitive  on  this  head,  I  trust  you 
will  be  able  to  hire  young  Murphy  for  us  as  we  like  him  very 
well,  he  is  a  good,  steady  fellow.      Our  neighbor,  McLaren,  will 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 77 

not  have  his  line  surveyed,  will  not  take  a  notice  and  will  not 
allow  the  surveyor  to  run  the  line;  this  will  put  us  to  the  trouble 
of  getting  an  order  from  the  court.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  in  this  world."  From  uncle  Jerrold:  "If  you  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  your  father  in  business  transactions,  you  are 
forever  ruined,  both  in  comfort  and  prosperity;  he  is  one 
of  these  unfortunate  and  unlucky  men  that  drags  everyone 
down  that  has  anything  to  do  with  him;  so  surely  as  you  let  him 
get  his  little  finger  in  your  affairs  he  will  worry  you  to  death.  I 
have  no  personal  enmity  against  this  unsettled  and  unmanage- 
able man,  but  I  should  regret  to  see  you  involved  in  the  discom^ 
fort  and  hardships  your  mother  suffered  Never  of  course  see 
hiai  in  want  of  the  comforts  of  ufe,  but  if  you  enter  into  any 
agreement  or  have  any  dealings  wi'^h  him  whatever,  I  shall  only 
say  good  bye  to  all,  and  you  may  say  good  bye  all  happiness 
and  prosperity.  If  he  makes  any  proposals  to  you,  just  listen  to 
him,  but  make  no  decided  answer  but  let  him  go  on  until  he 
starts  something  fresh,  and  so  on."  Horton  House,  Salford, 
England,  Feb.  1880.  "Dear  Arthur:  It  was  such  a  pleasure  to 
hear  from  you,  for  though  1  am  constantly  hearing  of  you  and 
Tom  from  them  all  at  home,  still  it  is  a  greater  satisfaction  to 
get  a  letter  from  yourself  sometimes.  How  improved  your  farm 
must  be;  Mama  says  she  wishes  it  was  near  the  Elms  so  that 
they  might  see  more  of  you.  You  must  be  surprised  to  see 
Richard  and  Clifford  hard  at  work  on  their  farms  after  seeing 
them  play  at  farming  with  you,  I  suppose  that  none  of  you  are 
busy  yet,  but  our  land  is  being  prepared  already  though  it  is 
only  the  loth  of  Feb ;  we  are  having  quite  mild,  spring  like 
weather;  our  baby  is  such  a  pretty  little  creature  and  Constance 
is  delighted  to  have  a  sister;  she  will  be  baptized,  Angelica 
Theodora;  would  not  your  dear  mother  have  liked  the  names; 
I  feel  our  children  have  had  a  great  loss  in  her  removal,  for  she 
would  have  prayed  for  them.  I  always  think  of  you,  especially 
in  that  prayer  in  the  morning  service,  "And  make  thy  chosen 
people  joyful."  1  trust  you  and  Tom  are  filled  with  joy  at 
Christ's  love  for  you.  We  are  going  to  a  drawing-room  meet- 
ing to  hear  an  account  of  the  American  church  in  Asia  Minor, 
It  is  interesting  to  hear  about  christians  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

23 


1^8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Timothy  is  very  fond  of  travels  and  has  made  such  a  correct 
map  of  the  latest  explorations  in  Asia.  Hoping  to  hear  soon 
from  you,  and  with  Timothy's  love  and  mine,  I  remain  your 
affectionate  cousin,  Angelica  K.  Fothergill."  Letter  from  a 
former  neighLor,  Ned  Blake,  to  father:  Chohdoes  Falls.  N. 
Y.  Mr.  Howard,  my  dear  friend  i  sit  down  to  rite  you  there  few 
lines  hoping  to  find  you  in  good  health  as  it  leaves  me  at  pres- 
ent, we  are  all  well  and  the  children  is  all  well  and  we  got  two 
of  them  working  in  the  factory  and  last  pay  day  my  oldest  boy 
got  $8;  we  got  here  all  well  and  like  the  place  well  enough  so 
far  and  I  have  been  working  for  the  farmers  ever  since.  1  came 
here  and  I  got  $i  a  day,  and  write  to  me  as  soon  as  you  get  this 
letter  and  let  me  know  how  the  foHvs  is,  and  let  me  the  news  all 
about  the  plase  i  levt,  and  let  me  know  how  Dinnis  Doherty  get- 
ting along  and  let  me  know  all  the  particulars  about  the  farm  1 
and  please  rite  as  soon  as  you  can  and  rite  a  longer  one  and  let 
me  know  all  about  the  country  and  give  my  best  respects  to  all 
who  inquire  for  me  and  no  more  at  present  from  your  friend  Mr. 
E.Blake.  Don't  forget  to  write  soon  now."  "June  1880,  Dear 
Tom  and  Arthur,  you  should  have  asked  my  consent  before  buy- 
ing that  land;  I  again  strongly  advise  you  to  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it;  never  go  into  debt  if  possible,  debt  is  the  ruin  of  this 
country  and  the  people  in  it,  it  drives  thousands  annually  out  of 
house  and  home,  you  are  not  land  speculators,  you  have  400  acres 
of  land  which  is  ample,  more  than  enough,  devote  all  your  ener- 
'gies  to  the  improvement  of  that  land,  make  it  a  good  farm  in 
eveiy  sense  of  the  word;  every  cent  you  can  spare  for  the  next 
10  years  invest  it  on  your  land.  That  f^irm,  if  you  continue  as 
•you  have  been  doing,  will  make  a  fine  estate  for  you  in  future 
years,  that  will  be  the  pride  of  your  eyes  and  the  joy  of  your 
■heart.  You  must  bear  in  mind  tiiat  farming  is  the  most  useful 
and  honorable  of  all  professions;  there  are  scarcely  any  real 
farmers  in  this  country,  the  majority  are  too  ignorant  and  too 
conceited  to  be  taught.  After  your  place  is  improved  you  can 
sell  it  and  move  to  another  locality.  But  heretofore  it  has  been 
all  drudgery,  now  you  are  only  on  the  threshold  of  farming  and 
you  will  take  more  pleasure  and  interest  in  it  every  year;  your 
land  is  better  and   stronger  than  anything  around  the   Elms." 


-HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I79 

Elinbroke,  Dec.  1880.  "Dear  Edmund:  I  have  to  apologize  for 
not  answering  sooner  your  letter  of  the  1 2th  inst.  Was  sorry  to. 
hear  that  your  health  is  worse  of  late,  but  hope  it  will  improve 
and  that  you  will  soon  come  and  see  us,  as  I  believe  the  change 
of  air  would  do  you  good.  Aston,  though  not  a  fine  or  rich 
country,  has  at  least,  pure  air  and  good  water,,  the  two  greatest 
essentials  for  the  health  of  man.  Many  thanks  for  the  papers" 
and  pamphlets  you  so  kindly  sent  us;  I  agree  with  you  that  land- 
lordism is  injurious  to  the  prosperity  of  a  country  as  is  also  the- 
law  of  entail  which  is  in  a  great  measure  the  cause  of  large  estates; 
there  cannot  be  a  single  doubt  that  10,000  acres  cun  be  better 
cultivated  by  a  large  number  of  small  farmers  who  possessed  their 
land  than  under  the  management  of  a  single  lanclord;  Belgium, 
France  and  other  countries  are  clear  proofs  of  this.  The  law  of 
entail  is  the  chief  cause  of  the  formation  of  two  extreme  classes 
of  society,  one  extremely  rich  and  the  other  extremely  poor;  this 
state  of  affairs  should  be  discouraged  by  civilized  governments, 
for  the  great  wealth  of  the  rich  encourages  them  in  unnecessary 
extravagance  and  the  poverty  of  the  poor  keeps  them  in  ignorance 
and  misery,  therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  all  governments  to  maker, 
laws  that  give  equal  opportunities  to  all  glasses  of  its  citizens,  the 
English  government  is  in  many  ways  to  blame  for  the  poverty 
and  discontent  of  many  of  its  subjects  in  Gt.  Britain  as  well  as 
Ireland  and  especially  for  the  trouble  they  have  brought  upon 
themselves  in  governing  Ireland  unwisely;  they  have  in  many 
ways  been  unjust  to  thv)  Irish  people,  and  no  people  can  be  expected 
to  bear  injustice  without  resistance  and  rebellion;  the  interests  of 
the  empire  demand  that  better  laws  should  be  made  in  favor  of 
the  agricultural  classes  of  the  whole  united  kingdom,  which  would 
enable  all  classes  of  its  subjects  to  possess  the  land  they  cultivat- 
ed, for  even  tho  the  resources  of  the  nation  arc  great  and  many 
agriculture,  and  it  alone  is  the  backbone  of  its  strength  as  well  as 
that  of  all  other  nations,  but  at  the  same  time  all  the  world  can 
clearly  see  that  Iingland  will  never  dismember  her  grand  empire 
or  lose  control  of  a  single  foot  of  her  territory  as  long  as  she  aas 
power  to  keep  it  together;  with  the  distant  colonies  she  must  of 
necessity  give  tliem  Home  Rule  on  account  of  the  distance  from 
the  seat  of  government;  with  Ireland  however  it  is  entirely  difter- 


l80  HISTORY    OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

ent,  for  centuries  it  has  formed  a  part  of  the  nation  and  to  give  it 
its  independence  would  be  to  create  a  menance  and  source  of 
danejer  in  close  proxi.nity  to  the  seat  of  government  of  the  em- 
pire; all  that  Ireland  can  ever  expect  is  to  have  the  same  privil- 
eges as  all  the  other  subjects  of  the  united  kingdom  and  an  equal 
amount  of  representation  in  the  British  Parliament  in  propoition 
to  their  population  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  population 
of  the  united  kingdom,  and  none  of  the  nations  of  the  earth 
can  dare  to  remonstrate  with  England  for  doing  so,  for 
there  is  not  a  nation  of  the  earth  who  has  not  acquired  a  portion 
of  its  territory  by  unjust  conquest,  and  if  all  unjustly  acquired  ter- 
ritory had  to  be  returned  to  the  origi..al  owners  it  would  throw 
the  whole  world  into  a  terrible  state  of  confusion,  even  this  great 
and  glorious  United  States  would  have  to  be  dismembered  and 
give  back  the  brightest  jewel  in  their  posLcission  New  York  to  the 
Dutch,  from  whom  it  was  unjustly  taken  by  the  use  of  main  force 
by  the  English.  I  was  surprised  to  see  in  an  article  in  the  Nation 
you  sent  me  headed  the  burglaries  iu  France,  as  regards  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Jesuits  why  should  that  newspaper  be  indignant  at 
this  course  of  action  of  the  French  republic  when  even  the  infalli- 
ble popes  have  in  past  y/s  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  Rome.  If 
such  men  as  Mr.  Sullivan  and  the  editor  the  Nation  adorn  their 
religion  with  falsehood's  pride  and  praise  their  country  beyond 
the  limits  of  truth  and  moderation  what  might  we  expect  from 
such  men  if  their  party  once  had  absolute  power;  a  glance  at  the 
earth's  history  on  similar  occasions  gives  us  the  correct  answer;  it 
is  not  such  men  as  these  or  the  language  that  they  use  will  free  the 
ish  people;  if  the  English  are  really  so  'tyrannical,  cruel  and 
unjust;"  let  the  whole  nation  rebel  for  if  their  cause  is  just  they 
surely  ought  to  have  a  larger  battle  field  than  a  cabbage 
garden.  If  their  cause  is  just  and  they  are  as  a  people 
noble  and  courageous  they  must  and  will  succeed,  but 
if  they  hold  vile  doctrines  of  intolerance  and  think  more 
of  country  heads  than  educating  themselves,  and  take  un- 
fair advantages  to  shoot  landlords  from  behmd  hedges,  and  praise 
the  iniquitous  doings  of  their  church  in  former  days,  and  declare 
that  whoever  willfully  refuses  to  bow  his  neck  to  the  slavery  of 
their  chuch,  is  lost;  what  better  can  they  expect  when  they  de- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  l8l 

fend  and  praise  the  tyrannical  Pope,  who  even  blessed  Phillip 
and  encouraged  him  to  try  and  take  away  from  the  spiritual 
revolutionists  of  Fngland  the  liberty  they  had  gained,  and  are 
guilty  of  as  many  inconsistancies  if  not  more  than  those  whom 
they  style  their  oppressors;  robbers  that  are  robbed  cannot  be 
pitied;  assassins  that  are  assassinated  deserve  the  same;  tyrants  rul- 
ed by  tyrants  deserve  their  fate,for  if  these  tyrants  ruled  the  other 
tyrants  Ireland  still  would  be  in  a  sad  state.  No  people  can 
ever  rise  to  an  honorable  position  among  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  earth,  until  they  are  a  better  educated  people  than  thousands 
of  the  Irish  are  to  day;  their  clergy  ought  to  take  this  matter  in 
hi.nd,  and  have  them  taught  a  little  practical  and  useful  knowledge 
as  well  as  the  doctrines  of  their  religion,  which  would  prevent 
the  humiliating  disgrace  of  this  intelligent  and  noble  people,  of 
seeing  their  countrymen  becoming  the  political  dupes  of  such 
political  intriguers  as  John  Kelly  of  New  York,  which  brings 
upon  this  class  of  their  countrymen  the  contempt  of  ail  respect- 
able Americans.  For  some  Irish  agitators  I  have  great  respect, 
but  for  such  men  as  Mr.  S.  and  the  editor  of  the  Nation  I  have 
profound  contempt,  for  these  men  have  thrive  parts  of  bigotry 
to  one  of  patriotism,  and  seem  to  be  perfectly  incapable  of  speak- 
ing on  national  affairs  without  being  influenced  by  religious  fa- 
naticism, and  led  by  it  to  the  greatest  exaggeration.  Mr.  S.  in 
the  1 8th  chapter  of  his  history  says,  "Wexford  !  Glorious  Wex- 
ford! Now  showed  that  one  of  Ireland's  32  counties  could  suc- 
cessfully engage  more  than  one  quarter  of  England's  army;  well 
and  bravely  Wexford  fought  that  fight;  it  was  the  wild  rush  to 
arms,  of  a  tortured  Peasantry  unprepared,  unorganized,  unarmed." 
This  statement  condemns  either  Mr.  S.  or  the  Irish  people  to  de- 
serve the  contempt  of  all  truly  honest  and  brave  men;  if  the  first, 
as  a  falsifier  of  his  country's  history;  if  the  second,  as  a  miser- 
able people,  full  of  internal  dissensions  unable  to  organize  any 
united  action  against  those  that  they  consider  as  their  country's 
oppressors,  for  if  Mr.  Sullivan's  statements  are  true  that  "the  un- 
organized Peasantry  of  one  country  could  resist  more  than  one 
quarter  the  army  of  Gt.  Britain/'  England  could  not  resist  the 
united  action  of  Ireland's  32  counties.  I  was  also  much  amused 
at  another  portion  in  the  same  chapter  where  he  says,  "the  Pope 


iS2  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

had  been  utterly  misinformed  antl  kept  in  the  dark  by  Ilcnry 
the  2nd."  Now  it  ai)pears  to  me  that  if  a  Pope  can  be  deceived 
and  fall  into  error  in  simple  temporal  aff.iirs,  that  he  cannot  be 
infallible  in  .s[)iritual  thin<;s,  which  are  so  much  more  difficult 
and  impossible  for  the  finite  mind  of,  even  a  Pope,  to  comprehend, 
also  in  the  same  chapter  he  says,  "they  are  full  of  the  most 
powerful  invocations  of  the  saints,  and  in  all  other  particulars 
aie  exactly  such  prayers,  and  express  such  doctrines  as  are 
taught  in  the  unchanged  and  unchangeable  Catholic  church." 
This  false  and  absurd  statement  can  only  be  received  as  truth  by 
men  who  have  been  taught  from  earliest  infancy  that  such  is 
really  the  case,  but  never  by  men  who  carefully  study  both  sides 
of  a  question  and  impartially  use  their  judgment  on  it;  a  clever 
Catholic  of  ours  defends  Mr.  S.  in  the  following  slippery  manner 
by  saying  that,  "Mr.  S.  only  spoke  in  referance  to  the  great  dog- 
mas of  religion,  and  had  no  reference  to  the  discipline  of  the 
church."  If  so  he  should  have  said,  '"as  are  taught  in  the  Cath- 
olic church,  whose  dogmas  are  unchangable,"  but  even  suppos- 
ing that  this  was  his  meaning,  it  still  contains  the  same  amount 
of  fak-chood-,  for  the  dogma  of  "thj  immaculate  conception  of  the 
virgin"  did  not  exist  in  the  church  but  has  only  been  promu'- 
gated  quite  recently.  The  Canadian  Pacific  Kly.  is  in  course  of 
construction  and  will  be  completed  by  1 891;  the  Co.  has  reed,  a 
bonus  of  $25,000,000  and  25,000,000  acres  of  land,  man}'  think 
tlie  government  has  acted  unwisely  in  granting  such  a  large  mo- 
noply  to  the  Co.  who  are  to  own  and  work  the  road  forever,  and 
have  power  to  run  several  lines  to  any  part  of  the  dominion;  it 
has  also  the  power  to  prevent  the  building  of  rival  lines  for  sever- 
al yrs.;  there  are  advantages  and  disadvantages  on  both  sides,  but 
if  the  Co.  acts  at  all  justly  it  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  country, 
as  the  great  North-West  will  be  opened  up  much  sooner  than  if 
the  government  had  to  construct  it;  this,  with  tiie  Panama  Canal 
are  the  two  great  works  now  in  progress  in  America.  Business 
is  briskening  up,  especially  the  lumlaer  trade  in  this  part  of  the 
country,  there  being  as  much  as  5  shantie.s  for  making  logs  in 
the  vicinity  of  ou>-  lots,  but  the  snow  is  not  yet  deep  enough  for 
lun.bering  purpose.'^;  wishing  you  all  many  happy  returns  of  the 
sea.'son,  I  remain,  your  affec.   cousin,  A.  N.    Howard."     P^xtract 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  1 83 

from  letter  from  Uiiclo  Jerrold.  *'It  appears  to  mc  that  a  great 
many  Canadians  emigrate  to  tlie  United  States;  I  see  by  tlie 
census  that  more  emifi;rate  from  Canada  to  the  U.  S.  than  from 
En^huid  to  Canada,  but  many  of  these  are  merely  emigrants 
from  luigland  to  the  U.  S.,  who  pass  through  Canada;  as  far  as 
I  could  see  /vhen  I  was  in  the  United  States  there  seemed  to  be 
more  misery  and  poor  creatures  in  New  York  City  out  of  work 
than  in  London;  I  meet  persons  (who  have  come  back)  every 
day  who  give  a  bad  account  of  the  U.  S.;  the  weather  here  is 
good  and  the  harvest  and  crops  a  good  average  wheat  and  hay 
are  good,  both  in  England  and  Ireland,  but  I  regret  to  say 
the  potatoe  disease  has  appeared  in  Ireland,  and  they  expect  a 
scarcity;  this  people  are  unfortunate  because  the  lower  class  of 
})cople  are  an  idle,  thriftless,  quarrelsome  superstitious  and  dirty 
])eople,  who  are  difticult  to  deal  with,  roving  from  one  place  to 
another  and  never  set  their  minds  on  what  is  before  them,  but 
dreaming  and  planning  something  fir  of{  and  out  of  their  reach: 
they  will  not  pick  up  half-pence  under  their  noses  but  look  far- 
ther off  for  gold,  and  get  nothing  at  last.  The  nasty  humbug 
beggars  are  accusing  every  on-j  in  England  of  their  misfortunes, 
all  of  their  own  making;  the  Yankees  seem  the  only  people  that 
can  manage  to  keep  them  in  any  decent  order;  out  West  they 
shoot  down  all  men  who  are  quarrelsome,  yet  the  Irish  are  a 
curse  even  to  the  United  States;  still  with  all  their  bad  habits  I 
hold  that  the  Irish  are  fast  improving  under  English  rule, 
through  the  country  being  over  populated  it  is  a  hard  struggle 
for  life.  Sir.  VV.  Raleigh  intioduced  a  curse  when  he  brought 
into  Ireland  the  potatoe;  it  is  an  uncertain  and  p.^rishable  pro- 
duct, and  cannot  be  used  like  corn  in  trade  and  barter.  How 
sad  it  is  that  your  cousin  Richard  is  in  such  delicate  health,  I  am 
afraid  his  passing  as  an  M.  D.  in  Montreal,  New  York  and  Lon- 
don was  too  much  for  him,  but  I  trust  his  visit  to  INIexico  will 
do  him  good.  E.  Howard  sent  me  a  pamphlet  on  the  treatment 
of  tried  prisoners  in  Ireland;  "during  cold  winter  nights  prison- 
ers have  had  to  lie  down  on  the  bare  prison  floors  with  only  a 
rug  that  weighed  four  pounds  as  a  covering."  Dr.  McDonnell 
says,  "I  found  prisoners  with  cold  extremities,  shrunken  features 
and  chattering  teeth."     If  such  is  the  case  the  prison    officials 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

are  cruel  and  unprincipled  men,  Hamburg,  Germany,  Nov.  1880. 
"Dear  Friends:  It  is  a  long  time  since  we  heard  from  each 
other.  Since  I  last  wrote  to  you  I  have  been  married  and  am 
living  here;  I  have  started  an  export  business  and  am  doing 
well.  How  is  it  that  neither  of  you  have  taken  steps  in  the 
matrimonial  line?  I  tell  you  a  man  does  not  know  what  life  is 
till  he  is  married,  especially  if  he  has  a  good  and  loving  wife; 
I  assure  you  nothing  on  earth  would  induce  me  to  change  back 
to  my  former  life  again.  How  are  you  getting  along  now? 
Drop  me  a  note  and  let  me  know  about  your  doings  and  yuur 
prospects.  With  pleasure  I  think  back  to  the  time  that  I  lived 
at  your  old  homestead,  when  your  good  mother  was  alive,  i 
was  then  a  boy  and  alone  in  the  world;  I  shall  always  feel  grate- 
ful for  the  kindness  I  received  at  your  house;  let  us  keep  up  a 
correspondence  and  always  remain  good  friends.  You  have  fol 
lowed  me  through  my  meandering  across  the  Continent  of 
America,  through  England,  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  buck 
again  to  my  native  land;  so  I  trust  you  do  not  want  to  drop  me 
now.  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  from  you  and  your  doings  and 
you  have  my  best  wishes  for  your  future  prosperity;  remember 
me  kindly  to  all  friends.  Trusting  to  hear  from  you  soon  and 
that  this  will  find  you  in  good  health,  I  remain,  your  sincere 
friend,  Fritz  Hogarth."  We  have  beautiful  singing  in  St.  Mark's 
church  at  Aston,  of  the  lady  voices  those  of  Mabel  and  Florence 
are  the  most  cultivated  and  powerful.  Have  spent  several  pleas- 
ant evenings  at  Meredith's  playmg  parlor  croquet  with  Mabel, 
Florence  and  Maud,  they  are  all  charming  young  ladies;  Maud 
has  all  the  life  and  spirit  of  a  school  girl.  Kirwin's  lawyer, 
Limard.  sent  me  a  lawyer's  letter  informing  me  that  Kirwin  was 
about  to  enter  an  action  against  me  for  defamation  of  character 
for  $$00;  the  same  afternoon  I  met  the  lawyer  on  the  street,  he 
said  with  a  bland  smile,  Mr.  Howard,  do  you  not  think  you  had 
better  come  to  my  office  and  try  to  make  a  compromise  with 
Mr.  Kirwin  I  replied,  I  have  nothing  to  compromise  with  Mr. 
Kirwin.  All  I  said  in  his  store  was:  Mr.  Kirwin  you  are 
fortunate  in  having  such  faithful  clerks,  if  you  can  always  have 
such  good  ones  you  will  make  your  fortune  some  day  yet.  Our 
hired  man  had  drawn  some  wood  there  and  the  clerks  marked 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  I85 

the  amounts  of  each  in  a  pass  book  as  the  man  arrived,  and  when 
the  settling  day  came,  Kirwin  wanted  to  pay  for  two  loads  less 
than  the  amount  the  clerk  had  marked  down.  But  I  must  say, 
Mr.  Limard,  that  I  am  exceeding  sorry  that  times  are  so  hard 
with  you  that  you  are  reduced  to  take  such  a  case  as  this  in 
hand.  He  replied  that  I  might  have  to  be  sorry  for  myself 
whea  I  had  the  costs  to  pay.  The  affair,  however,  ended  there 
and  I  firmly  believe,  to  use  a  common  term,  that  it  was  a  "put 
up  job."  29th  Dec.  Tom  left  with  Metz  Vincent  for  Chinton, 
40  miles  from  here,  where  there  are  some  rich  English  farmers, 
one  especially,  who  ships  several  tons  of  maple  sugar  of  his  own 
make  to  the  Eastern  U.  S.  States  annually;  a  few  poor  French 
Canadians  live  there  who  are  mostly  day  laborers.  Clifford  C. 
has  been  drunk  and  fired  off  a  revolver  about  a  dozen  times  as  he 
drove  madly  along  the  range;  this  is  the  first  time  an  English 
resident  has  degraded  himself  so  low ;  he  has  a  bruised  face  and 
two  black  eyes  through  a  fight  he  had  with  his  drnnken  French 
companions.  New  Years  Day,  1881.  Spent  the  day  at  G's  and 
fathers;  went  to  a  church  social  in  the  evening  at  Mr.  Hume's  the 
station  agent;  we  had  the  usual  church  social  refreshments, 
sandwiches,  cake  and  coffee;  Florence  sang  some  very  amusing 
Scotch  songs;  the  evening  passed  in  pleasant  conversation  and 
music  and  closed  with  "God  save  the  Queen,"  and  "Auld  Lang 
Syne."  I  never  leave  the  beautiful  and  elevating  society  of 
Florence  without  having  my  heart  filled  with  good  and  noble 
aspirations;  may  a  Higher  Power  bless  and  preserve  her  from 
all  the  greater  trials  and  sorrows  of  life,  and  enable  me  to  be 
worthy  of,  at  least,  her  friendship  by  using  aright  whatever 
talents  I  may  possess  for  the  benefit  of  myself  and  fellowmen. 
Tom  returned  next  day  from  Chinton;  he  gives  a  horrible  des- 
cription of  the  manners  and  conversation  of  the  French  families 
he  visited  there;  even  though  he  is  my  brother  and  I  have  never 
had  any  reason  to  doubt  his  varacity,  I  could  not  believe  that 
fathers  and  mothers  would  tolerate  such  conversation* in  their 
families  were  i^  not  that  I  have  seen  the  same  in  a  lesser  degree 
in  this  part  of  the  count; ^',  Letter  from  uncle  Jerrold  in  Feb. 
1880,  that  I  omitted  to  place  in  the  journal  of  that  year.  "My 
Dear  Arthur:     If  you  could  by  any  possibility  become  an  officer 

24 


1 86  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

after  many  years  of  humiliation,  your  position  would  not  be  so 
independent  as  that  you  hold  to  day.  I  must  say  I  am  greatly 
disgusted  at  the  wicked  sentiments  and  diabolical  trash  in  your 
letter,  where  you  talk  the  old  rot  and  base  cant  of  fools  about 
the  glory  of  killing  your  fellow -creatures.  There  is  no  glory  in 
your  yearnmg  to  fight  for  your  country,  at  least  at  the  present 
moment  in  a  time  of  peace;  if  the  interests  of  your  country  re- 
quired it  in  time  of  war  it  would  be  altogether  different;  I  am 
sorry  to  say  there  are  too  many  young  fools  like  you  in  this 
country;  take  my  advice,  remain  on  your  farm  where  you  will 
be  more  useful  as  a  producer  than  as  an  exterminator  in  the 
army.  Let  every  cobbler  stick  to  his  own  last.  The  man  that 
wearies  of  the  work  before  him  always  thinks  he  can  do  some- 
thing better;  it  is  a  sure  sign  he  is  fit  for  nothing.  I  have  been 
in  the  army  myself  and  I  shall  never  forget  how  I  have  been 
humbled  for  want  of  money  and  also  by  the  petty  tyranny  and 
annoyances  of  those  over  me,  even  though  I  was  well  introduced 
and  a  classical  scholar.  How  I  longed  for  some  honest  calling 
to  be  rid  of  the  swearing,  ribald  and  senseless  men  about  me. 
If  you  want  to  be  a  hero  obey  God's  commandments  and  pre 
duce  smiling  fields;  if  you  have  the  material  of  a  hero  in  you 
conquer  the  woodlands  and  wilderness  you  possess;  there  are 
enough  brutes  of  the  hero  stamp  already — too  many  ready  for 
bloodshed  and  battle  without  another  cionkey  to  stain  his  hoofs; 
much  better  to  draw  a  cart  and  more  pleasing  to  God  and  useful 
to  humanity  than  braying  out  ridiculous  bombasts  of  war  and 
destruction.  Alas  !  Poor  Mr.  H.  was  always  hatching  some 
addled  egg  of  this  sort,  some  petty  project  out  of  the  usual  track 
of  sober  business,  and  so  he  was  always  an  unsuccessful, 
troublesome,  unhappy  man,  ever  failing,  always  grumbling, 
always  dependent,  and  at  last  a  burden  on  his  wife,  who  had  to 
support  him  out  of  her  income.  Whatever  you  do  I  hope  God 
will  keep  and  protect  you,  your  loving  uncle,  J.  B.  Goldsmith. 
What  a  Iiappy  position  you  both  have  now,  honorable,  peaceful 
and  innocent,  and  how  useful  to  your  country;  every  acre  you 
redeem  is  wealth  and  power  added  to  the  nation.  If  you  are 
called  on  to  fight  for  your  country  I  am  sure  you  will  do  it,  but 
heaven  forbid  that  you  should  ever  long  for  a  soldier's  life  as  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 8/ 

proffession  or  means  of  self  glorification."  Read  a  life  of  Napo- 
leon, by  a  Catholic;  it  gave  him  great  abuse  and  in  a  most 
absurd  manner  tried  to  show  that  his  treatment  of  the  Pope  was 
rev/arded  by  God  with  his  downfall.  Went  to  Melford  with 
Philip  and  visited  our  friends  there;  in  its  immediate  vicinity  the 
country  is  beautifully  hilly;  in  crossing  the  range  of  hills  we  had 
a  superb  view  of  the  village  of  Melford  and  the  town  of  Rawlings 
in  the  valley  beneath,  with  the  stately  and  placid  river  of  St. 
David  flowing  between  them  Went  to  the  quarry,  several 
miles  distance,  up  hill  all  the  way;  they  were  the  steepest 
hills  I  ever  drove  up.  The  process  of  quarrying  and 
splitting  the  slates  was  interesting  to  see;  there  were  cranes  work- 
ed by  an  engine  to  hoist  the  slate  out  of  the  quarry  which  is  over 
200  ft.  deep  and  30(3  wide;  I  ascended  on  a  load  of  slate  out  of 
the  quarry,  the  wire  cable  was  only  i  inch  thick  and  vibrated  un- 
pleasantly as  the  basket  swung  over  the  yawning  chasm,  I  felt 
how  foolishly  rash  I  had  been  when  informed  that  2  men  had  been 
killed  and  one  disabled  3  weeks  ago  by  the  breaking  of  the  ca- 
ble; went  to  the  cemetery  and  saw  some  fine  monuments  but 
thought  at  the  time  that  the  grandest  monument  of  all  is  to  deserve 
the  gratitude  and  respect  of  future  generations.  Pine  has  been 
sold  by  some  of  our  neighbors  at  5  cts.  a  cubic  foot  or  25  cts.  a 
standard  for  the  cut  (standing  in  the  woods);  I  am  getting  more 
disgusted  with  the  French  girls  around  here;  for  vulgarity,  lack  of 
modesty  and  frivolty,  I  have  never  seen  their  equal;  they  may  be 
refined  and  educated  French  women  in  the  country  districts  of 
Canada,  but  as  yet  I  have  never  seen  one  nor  have  I  seen  a  French 
Canadian  in  the  country  villages  and  rural  districts  who  would 
not  use  obscene  language  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  sisters; 
some  English  and  Americans  are  also  addicted  to  this  bad  habit 
but  I  have  always  noticed  that  they  showed  their  respect  for  the 
gentler  sex  by  abstaining  from  it  in  their  presence,  not  so  with 
the  French  Canadians,  fathers,  brothers  and  lovers  all  freely  in- 
dulge in  obscene  conversation  and  jokes  without  the  slightest 
restraint  in  the  presence  of  their  mothers,  sisters,  sweethearts  and 
wives.  At  a  social  at  Meredith's  I  was  greatly  ashamed  of  the 
awkard  manner  of  the  G.  boys,  who  did  not  know  what  to  do 
with  their  hands  and  feet  or  take  a  proper  part  in  the   general 


1 88  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

conversation;  all  young  men  should  be  able  to  walk  about,  sit  or 
stand  in  a  drawing  room  with  a  perfect  easy  and  unconscious 
grace  and  be  able  to  converse  and  maintain  an  interesting  conver- 
sation with  ladies,  old  as  well  as  young;  of  course  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  other  accomplishments  a  young  man  should  study  and 
acquire  but  until  he  acquires  these  two  he  can  never  truly  enjoy 
the  society  of  ladies  and  gentlemen.  Mr.  Meredith  has  commenced 
a  course  of  very  interesting  historical  readings  at  the  socials  on 
early  Canadian  history.  Extract  from  a  letter  wrote  to  Edmund 
in  Oct.  1880.  "It  is  actually  6  yrs  since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  since 
then  we  lost  our  dear  mother,  the  greatest  loss  a  young  man  can 
have,  a  loss  which  nobody  but  himself  can  estimate,  he  never 
knows  her  real  value  till  she  is  taken  from  him,  and  thus  I  feel  if 
I  ever  become  a  good  and  useful  member  of  society  it  will,  next 
to  a  higher  power,  be  all  due  to  the  beautiful  example  and  wise 
instruction  I  received  from  my  dear  departed  mother.  If  mothers 
only  knew  how  much  the  civilization  of  future  generations  de- 
pended on  their  example  and  teaching  they  would  soon  fully  ap- 
preciate the  glorious  duties  they  have  to  perform  in  the  woik  of 
elevating  and  perfecting  the  human  race  by  mouldmg,  fashioning 
and  encouraging  the  pliable  and  delicate  minds  of  the  rising  gen- 
erations to  love  and  admire  everything  that  long  human  exper- 
ience has  proved  to  mankind  as  useful  and  good,  and  to  abhor 
everything  that  long  experience  has  shown  to  be  prejudicial  to 
the  interests  of  humanity;  how  much  better  and  practical  this 
would  be  than  to  teach  the  innocent  creatures  a  lot  of  ridiculous 
prayers  to  saints  and  catechism  composed  of  a  number  of  imag- 
inary doctrines;  everlasting  honor  is  due  to  all  the  christian 
churches  for  whatever  good  they  have  accomplished  by  teaching 
their  good  and  beautiful  moral  laws  and  precepts,  yet  at  the  same 
'  time  all  intelligent  men  who  study  the  present  civilization  of  the 
human  race  come  to  the  positive  conclusion  that  Christianity  has 
only  accomplished  an  atom  (as  it  were)  in  the  glorious  work  of 
perfecting  the  human  species,  and  that  the  age  is  fast  approach- 
ing when  the  most  civilized  portion  of  mankind  will  only  teach 
their  children  the  practical  truths  of  this  life  and  give  to  them 
such  a  perfect  system  of  education  that  it  will  develop  the  phys- 
ical and  mental  condition  of  the  human  species  to  the  highest 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  I89 

possible  state  of  perfection.  I  can  easily  imagine  how  these  noble 
women  and  men  of  future  ages  will  look  back  with  pity  and  con- 
tempt on  the  histories  of  most  of  the  religious  dupes  of  the  pres- 
ent day  and  especially  on  the  history  of  the  devout  catholics  of 
this  province  who  mumble  long  and  useless  prayers.waste  precious 
time  in  keeping  too  many  holy  days  and  listen  to  the  same  mon- 
otonous latin  service  every  Sunday  and  to  long  sermons  on  the 
worthless  and  imaginary  doctrines  of  their  church  and  actually  are 
told  to  abstain  from  wholesome  meat  on  Fridays  and  in  Lent, 
but  are  allowed  to  drink  poisonous  whiskey  and  chew  filthy  to- 
bacco, and  their  poor  little  children  are  in  thousands  of  cases 
only  taught  to  repeat  lon^  prayers  and  a  useless  catechism. 
Truly  we  can  never  expect  our  race  to  become  noble  beings 
through  the  teachings  of  churches  that  tolerate  such  a  state  of 
affairs.  Some  devout  catholics  have  told  me  that  there  may  be 
errors  of  discipline  in  their  church,  but  that  the  dogmas  (which 
are  of  more  consequence)  are  perfect.  Now  I  would  like  to 
know  which  is  of  the  most  importance  to  mankind,  the  practical 
self-evident  truths  of  life,  or  the  imaginary  truths  of  the  bogus 
dogmas  that  most  religions  have  promulgated.  I  think  that 
eventually  all  intelligent  and  unbiassed  men  will  acknowledge 
that  the  essays  written  on  hygiene  have  done  more  good  for 
mankind  than  all  the  imaginary  spiritul  dogmas  promulgated  by 
the  thousands  of  religions  that  have  existed  and  do  exist  on 
this  earth.  I  see  by  your  letter  that  you  are  very  patriotic,  this 
is  much  to  your  credit  as  it  is  one  of  the  noblest  sentiments  that 
ever  actuated  a  man's  heart;  Ireland  is  certainly  in  a  deplorable 
condition  and  in  need  of  legislative  measures  to  redress  the  griev- 
ances of  the  people,  but  I  must  also  say  that  many  of  the  demands 
of  Irish  politicians  are  simply  absurd  namely  "that  as  the  Irish 
people  owned  all  Ireland  once  all  the  English  should  be  dispos- 
sessed of  what  they  have  owned  hundred  of  yrs;  the  government 
will  however,  in  my  opinion,  aventually  make  laws  in  England 
as  well  as  in  Ireland  unfavorable  to  the  preservation  of  large  es- 
tates; no  government  should  allow  to  exist  the  law  of  entail,  this 
of  itself  is  the  chief  tause  of  all  the  large  estates  in  Gt.  BritaiD; 
it  seems  to  me  that  strong  drink,  superstition  and  ignorance  are 
greater  enemies  to  Ireland  than  the  English  people;  some  Irish 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

patriots  ought  to  encourage  education  for  without  a  liberal  edu- 
cation they  will  never  be  able  to  gain  complete  liberty  or  preserve 
it  when  acquired.  I  was  greatly  interested  in  the  book  you  sent  n^»e; 
all  this  author's  works  are  favorites  with  young  people,  he  is  in  fact 
the  boys  novel  writer.  I  shall  never  forget  how  much  I  enjoyed 
reading  "midshipman  easy,"  small  details  close  the  letter;  while 
at  Meredith's  pursuaded  Mr.  M,  to  let  Florence  teach  the  school 
as  she  will  only  have  to  teach  her  brothers  and  sisters  and  that  it 
was  the  only  means  we  had  of  keeping  our  school  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  R.  C's.  While  conversing  with  Florence  and 
Maud  they  told  me  that  Mabel  W.  is  teaching  Aston  school  and 
that  she  only  received  $ic^  a  month;  said  it  was  greatly  to  her 
credit  also  that  this  was  an  age  in  which  most  people  considered 
it  a  disgrace  to  be  mere  consumers  and  give  nothing  in  return  in 
which  they  agreed  reminding  me  of  their  father's  maxim  "from 
the  kitchen  to  the  piano."  Extract  from  letter  to  Ui  cle  Jerrold, 
"Does  it  not  appear  foolish  to  make  young  men  study  Latin  and 
Greek  before  they  are  thoroughly  instructed  in  their  native  lan- 
guage, and  other  studies  of  more  consequence,  jespeciaily  when 
thousands  ot  these  young  men  that  .study  these  dead  languages 
have  no  use  for  them  in  life;  if  there  are  fine,  eloquent  expressions 
in  T-atin  or  Greek  let  them  be  preserved  with  the  languages 
for  those  that  have  the  time  and  think  it  worth  their  time  to 
study  them,  but  not  to  oblige  those  who  have  other  aims  and 
views,  and  who  wish  to  make  the  most  of  a  short  existance  on 
our  globe,  but  the  opinions  of  individuals  will  not  be  of  much 
avail,  it  is  only  when  a  large  proportion  of  society  adopt  differ- 
ant  opinions  on  this  subject,  then,  and  then  only  will  this  error 
in  modern  education  cease;  in  the  mean  time  young  men  have  to 
submit  to  the  laws  of  society  which  are  absolute.  The  improv- 
•ments  on  our  farms  are  progressing,  this  yr.  we  have  sold  2000 
bushels  of  hay,  and  by  February  we  will  be  clear  of  all  debt,  clear 
of  all  debt  did  I  say,  oh,  no,  we  still  have  a  debt,  a  debt  we  can 
/•never  pay,  'tis  to  you  dear  uncle,  a  debt  of  gratitude,  for  you  have 
always  acted  a  father's  part  towards  us,  without  asking  any  re- 
turn, or  imposing  a  single  condition  on  us,  therefore,  dear  uncle 
I  trust  that  we  may  both  be  spared  for  many  yrs.,  you  to  enjoy 
life  and  see  the  benefit  caused  by  your  bounteous  hand  and  gen- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  l8f 

erous  heart,  and  Tom  and  I  to  prove  our  gratitude  by  our  earn- 
est endeavors  to  become  honorable  and  useful  members  of  society, 
and  when  the  dark  periods  of  life  appear,  for  this  life  is  not  all 
sunshine,  for  all  men  from  the  beggar  to  the  king  have  their 
faults,  difficulties  and  aspirations,  true  thoughts  will  help  to  sus- 
tain us  with  a  dear  good  uncle  and  loving  mother.  In  a  letter 
from  Clifford  he  says  "can  neither  of  you  pay  me  a  visit  for  a 
couple  of  weeks,  it  seems  a  long  time  since  I  saw  either  of  you, 
we  shall  have  a  good  time  together."  Extract  from  a  letter  from 
Uncle  Richard,  dated  i8th  Jan.  '8i.  "Your  Uncle  Jerrold  has 
censured  me  for  "allowing  Arthur  to  buy  that  lot"  1  told  him  I 
knew  nothiiig  about  it,  that  the  deed  had  been  signed  before  I 
knew  anything  about  it;  he  also  asked  for  information,  if  it  was 
true  that  Arthur  sold  rails  to  Meredith  for  half  price."  I  told 
him  that  it  was  not  so,  some  spiteful  person  must  have  written 
falsely  to  him  about  it;  I  regretted  to  hear  that  Arthur  worked 
out  by  the  day  with  your  oxen;  there  should  be  no  necessity 
for  hiring  yourselves  out  to  any  one,  in  doing  so  you  lower  your- 
selves very  much.  I  do  not  agree  with  your  Uncle  Jerrold 
"that  Arthur  should  keep  the  land"  /  say  get  rid  of  it  as  quickly 
as  possible^  if  you  keep  it  you  will  have  trouble  with  your  Uncle 
Herbert,  besides  you  have  sufficient  land  for  your  labor  and 
capital.  Richard  is  staying  in  t3wn  and  goes  out  driving  every 
day."  On  the  19  Jan.  attended  the  birthday  party  of  Florence 
and  had  a  most  enjoyable  time;  also  attended  a  general  mission- 
ary meeting  at  which  7  clergymen  of  different  Protestant  denom- 
inations spoke;  while  at  a  Church  Social  at  Mr.  Wheeler's,  Dr. 
Bacon,  Nicholas  and  myself  conversed  by  ourselves  about  the 
Arlington  scandal,  he  is  secretary,  and  treasurer  for  the  munci- 
pality,  and  has  been  guilty  of  conduct  that  has  brought  shame 
on  his  wife  and  children;  a  dressmaker  of  this  village  has  sued 
him  and  brought  his  name  before  the  courts;  his  wife  is  nearly 
broken-hearted;  they  belonged  to  a  very  small  but  select  circle 
of  the  best  French  society  in  the  parish,  and  he  also  holds  a  lu- 
crative position  as  inspector  of  schools;  strange  to  say  that  every 
secretary  of  Aston  muncipality,  4  in  number,  have  absconded 
during  the  last  25  yrs.,  and  that  one  has  fallen  into  a  worse  dis- 
grace.    Montreal,  2nd.  Feb.    "Dear  Tom  and  Arthur;  we  shall 


igi  ,  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.       \ 

be  happy  to  see  either  of  you  at  your  eadiest  convenience,  we 
had  a  letter  from  Clifford,  who  would  like  very  much  to  have 
one  of  you  go  and  see  him;  I  should  like  one  of  you  to  visit 
Clifford;  we  have  plenty  of  room  in  our  house  now  as  we  have 
no  visitors;  poor  Richard  is  very  low,  it  gives  him  hard  work  to 
get  up  stairs."  Five  days  later  he  writes,  **I  enclose  you  your 
quarterly  allowance,  was  glad  Tom  went  to  see  poor  Clifford, 
poor  fellow,  he  must  have  been  lonely  out  on  the  farm  alone; 
Richard  is  very  weak,  his  strength  is  decreasing.  We  have  had 
a  great  deal  of  trouble  heating  our  house  this  winter,  sometimes 
too  hot,  sometimes  too  cold,  also  much  annoyance  with  our 
servants."  Extract  from  letter  from  Clifford;  Feb.  17th.  "Tom 
and  I  were  to  the  poultry  show  at  Sherman;  there  was  the  best 
selection  of  poultry  I  have  ever  seen;  lom  will  return  on  Tues- 
day; you  will  of  course  be  charmed  to  hear  that  I  accompany 
him;  the  weather  has  been  very  pleasant."  Horton  House, 
Abbeydale,  Salford  England.  "My  dear  Arthur,  I  enjoyed  your 
last  long  letter,  and  wonder  I  have  not  answered  it  sooner;  I 
write  now  especially  to  wish  you  and  Tom  a  happy  New  Year; 
I  was  surprised  at  your  not  being  quite  satisfied  with  your  farm 
life,  for  certainly  the  want  of  congenial  society  is  a  serious  draw- 
back, but  still  it  will  be  possible  for  you   to   remove,  and   I  sup- 

i  pose  your  land  is  increasing  every  yr.  in  value;  your  cousin  Ru- 
pert also  wished  to  enter  the  army,  but  he  is  too  old;  he  has 
been  staying  with  us  lately,  after  taking  his  degree  at  Oxford; 
he  is  going  to  become  a  barrister;  I  was  pleased  to  see  how 
strong  and  muscular  he  looked,  all  the  students  at  Oxford  take 
plenty  of  exercise.  The  governor  of  the  university  made  the 
students  make  a  road  down  to  the  river;  he  said  they  were  tak- 
ing  a  great  deal  of  useless  exercise,  and  that  they  ought  to  turn 
their  energy  to  some  account,  We  have  had  some  bitterly  cold 
weather,  but  are  enjoying  a  thaw  now;  it  came  just  in  time  to 

,  prevent  a  water  famine  in  London,  for  it  was  feared  the  main 
pipe  would  soon  freeze,  which  it  did  at  Plymouth,  causing  a  great 
deal  of  inconvenience.  How  do  you  like  Rev.  L.W,s.  2nd  wife?  I 
suppose  his  little  daughter  is  quite  grown  up  now;  do  you  ever 
go  to  hear  Cannon  Baldwin  preach  when  you  go  to  Montreal? 
I  remember  my  dearest  Aunt  Sarah  used  often  to  attend  his  ser- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  I93 

vices  and  Bible  readings,  and  liked  his  evangelical  preaching  so 
much;  it  is  well  to  be  stirred  up  and  kept  in  remembrance  of 
spiritual  things  by  some  earnest  fellow  Christian.  I  wish  you 
could  see  your  sweet  little  cousins,  Constance  and  Dora,  they 
are  sweet,  fine  childran;  Timothy  joins  me  in  love  to  you  both, 
and  I  remain,  your  afifec.  cousin,  Angelica  E.  Fothergill,"  I  sent 
a  valentine  to  Florence.  While  attendmg  the  service  at  St.  Mark's 
Church  it  seemed  to  me  very  inconsistent  of  its  members  to  all 
reply  when  the  minister  read  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigfhbor  as 
thyself,"  **Lord  have  mercy  upon  us  and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep 
thy  law."  Many  of  them  have  been  saying  this  for  the  last  15 
yrs.  and  yet  they  have  never  made  the  slightest  effort  to  be  of 
any  benefit  to  the  large  masses  of  ignorant  and  superstitious 
people  about  them;  and  what  is  worse,  by  their  indifferent,  luke- 
warm, half-hearted  religion,  bring  dishonor  on  the  church  to 
which  they  belong.  Extract  from  an  essay  I  read  at  a  church 
social:  "I  feel  confident  that  you  are  all  interested  in  the  great 
advance  education  has  made,  and  is  making  every  day  towards 
that  period  in  our  earth's  history ,when  those  who  are  in  ignorance 
still  remain,  will  have  no  one  but  themselves  to  blame.  No  el- 
oquence can  convince  the  world  of  the  benefit  of  liberal  educa- 
tion better  than  the  world's  progress  in  wealth,  inventions  and 
commerce  since  the  reformation;  since  which  period  a  better  and 
more  liberal  system  of  education  has  been  adopted.  The  world's 
remarkable  progress  in  civilization  since  Luther's  reformation 
can  only  be  attributed  to  two  causes,  namely,  greater  liberty 
and  a  more  thorough  education.  Though  a  great  and  glorious 
work  has  been  accomplished  by  them,  it  is  but  a  fractional  part 
of  what  they  have  yet  to  aomplete;  the.  tyranny,  ignorance  and 
superstition  are  still  ascendant  on  our  earth,  casting  a  gloom 
over  some  of  its  purest  portions,  they  will  soon  be  dispelled  and 
vRnish,  as  the  light  that  dawned  at  the  reformations  spread 
throughout  the  earth.  This  heaven-sent  reform  has  changed 
the  whole  course  of  Christian  history — a  history  that  at  first  was 
the  grandest  of  the  earth,  but  afterwards  became  as  cruel  and  de- 
graded as  that  of  the  Pagans,  and  in  many  instances  more  so; 
oh!  so-called  Christianity,  how  many  pages  of  your  history., 
stained  and  darkened  with  blood,  cruelty  and  superstition,  will 

25 


J 94  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

you  have  to  account  for  in  that  last  and  terrible  day,  whose  hor- 
rors you  strive  to  make  your  followers  fear;  yet  by  your  doings 
and  example  one  might  imagine  there  was  not  a  God  of  justice, 
to  punish  your  many  crimes.  Any  impartial  person  can  read 
with  interest,  pity  and  admiration,  of  the  wars  and  courage  of 
ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  for  they,  in  their  religion  hid  a  God 
of  war;  but  cannot  read  without  horror  and  contempt  the  history 
of  the  Popes  and  Monarchs  of  the  middle  ages  and  those  of  the 
present  day,  who  believe  in  a  gospel  of  peace,  and  at  the  same 
time  allow  millions  of  their  fellow-nien  to  be  murdered;  and  in 
the  middle  ages  committed  atrocities  worthy  of  *'imps"  and 
"devils."  We  cannot  expect  the  world  to  hecome  civilized  at 
once  by  the  influence  of  the  purer  religion  of  Protestantism. 
Education  and  liberty,  though  their  work  is  slow,  it  is  certain  and 
sure.  The  greatest  religious  ecclastical  despotisms  wilt  either  be 
buried  or  destroyed  by  them;  even  in  this  desert  of  vulgarity 
and  ignorance  their  light  has  begun  to  dawn.  A  desert  of  vul- 
garity and  ignorance  !  You  may  reply,  how  can  this  be  ?  Are 
we  not  the  subjects  of  one  of  the  most  civilized  countries  m  the 
world?  Are  not  our  neighbors  the  believers  in  a  church  that 
declares  it  cannot  err  in  its  doctrines  ?  Do  we  not  live  in  an  age 
that  claims  a  great  advance  beyond  the  savage  age  that's  past  ? 
How  then  can  you  prove  that  we  live  in  a  desert  of  vulgarity 
and  ignorance  ?  Very  easily  my  friends,  very  easily.  Have  you 
ever  taken  a  tour  throughout  this  province,  and  seen  this  people 
in  a  semi-barborous  state,  with  their  intellects  darkened  by  the 
power  of  superstition  and  ignorance  ?  have  you  ever  gone  to  one 
of  their  school  examinations  ?  where  you  would  see  a  sight  that 
would  astonish  you;  where  you  would  see  school  examiners 
listening  to  the  teacher  examining  her  scholars;  in  the  gravest 
manner  possible,  and  in  most  cases  give  a  satisfactory  report  of 
their  progress;  yet  these  men  could  no  more  read  or  write  than 
they  could  decipher  the  hieroglyphics  on  an  ancient  Egyptian 
tomb.  To  the  Cure  of  course  it  was  a  matter  of  indifferance;  he 
is  satisfied  as  long  as  the  scholars  can  repeat  their  prayers,  at  a 
speed  that  defies  the  most  skillful  phonographer  to  report  them; 
he  does  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  have  the  prayers  pronoun- 
ced properly,  but  allows  the  scholars  to  disguise  their  language 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  I95 

with  a  squeaking  twang,  somewhat  like  that  of  a  heathen  Chinee, 
If  you  have  noticed  this  system  of  education  in  our  benighted 
province,  you  will  also  no  doubt,  have  noticed  its  effect  on  the 
inhabitants,  and  cannot  have  failed  to  have  noticed  the  manner 
in  which  they  patronize  art,  and  that  in  most  cases  the  produc- 
tions of  their  artists  are  nothing  better  than  horrid  daubs.  Per- 
haps on  entering  the  house  of  a  well-to-do  farmer  your  curiosity 
was  aroused  at  seeing  a  picture  of  an  ordinary  looking  man  sit- 
ting on  the  clouds,  and  made  a  disrespectful  remark  about  it, 
thinking  that  it  was  merely  a  representation  of  "old  father  time,'* 
when  to  your  astonishment  the  lady  remarks:  "oh  no  J  that's  a 
picture  of  God."  I  can  well  imagine  your  reply:  "what!  the  great 
Jehova !  The  Almighty  Creator  of  our  universe !  it  cannot  be; 
pardon  me  madam,  but  you  must  be  mistaken.  To  which  she 
replies:  "well  sir,  perhaps  it  is  not  exactly  like  him,  but  I  don't 
see  any  harm  in  it,  it  makes  us  think  the  oftener  of  him."  On 
leaving  that  house  a  total  change  takes  place  m  your  mind;  you 
begin  to  feel  contempt  and  disgust  for  the  so-called  "perfect 
church,"  and  if  you  have  travelled  amongst  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  or  seen  som^e  of  their  noble  looking  Gods, 
you  would  no  doubt  exclaim:  "those  noble  Pagans  of  ancient 
days  were  able  to  make  finer  and  nobler  looking  Gods  than  the 
ChristianPagans  of  the  present  day;"  as  our  neighbors  are  chiefly 
coniposed  os  this  class,  it  will  cause  no  surprise  here  this  evening 
when  I  say  that  I  cannot  count  a  single  individual  of  education 
among  them,  until  I  became  acquainted  with  your  interesting 
community,  which  appears  to  me  as  an  oasis,  when  compared 
with  the  surroundings;  here  are  at  least  a  people  that  can  speak 
their  native  language  correctly  without  using  those  expessions 
that  would  arouse  the  indignation  of  Lindley  Murray  at  seeing 
the  beauty  of  language  disfigured,  that  he  in  its  purity  had  ever 
sought  to  preserve;  here  youth,  manhood  and  old  age,  meet  to- 
gether for  their  mutual  edificarion  and  pleasure;  here  a  few  united 
families  established  their  church  under  the  greatest  difficulties; 
a  church  that  has  always  uph(jld  the  glorious  principles  of  liberty 
and  education,  a  church  that  where  ere  its  steeples  are  seen  civ- 
lization  and  prosperity  reign;  when  the  influence  of  our  church 
is  more  extended,  and  more  (:ommunities  like  this   established, 


I96  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  k      * 

then  will  education's  civilizing  influence  have  power  to  do  its 
noble  work.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  lovers  of  liberty  and 
progress,  we  have  a  great  and  glorious  work  to  do,  in  advancing 
the  interests  of  humanity  in  the  land  in  which  we  live,  if  we,  as 
Protestants  with  all  our  greater  advantages  of  superior  education, 
and  greater  spiritual  liberty,  are  not  guided  by  our  better  sen- 
timents, we  can  never  expect  our  fellow-countrymen  to  adopt 
our  more  rational  and  civilized  religion,  we  should  not  be  sat- 
isfied with  having  hired  missionaries  to  enlighten  the  world,  but 
every  one  of  us  that  loves  truth  and  humj.nity,  should  by  our 
noble  and  useful  lives  be  missionaries  in  the  grand  work  of  lib- 
erating all  the  spiritual  slaves  on  this  earth,  by  extending  to  them 
the  hand  of  fellowship,  and  inviting  them  to  come  forth  out  of 
their  servile  and  debasing  spiritual  serfdom,  under  the  despotism 
of  a  fraudlent  priesthood,  and  live  in  the  glorious  liberty  and  be 
guided  by  the  noble  spirit  that  every  man  posesses  in  an  unde- 
veloped state,  let  us  not  be  deceived  as  our  Catholic  neighbors 
are,  by  thinking  that  our  religion  is  perfect,  and  that  its  truths 
are  alone  sufficient  to  convert  all  men,  and  eventually  enable  it 
to  become  all  powerful  on  this  earth,  for  nothing  is  more  absurd 
and  impossible;  if  Protestantism  does  not  continue  the  grand 
work  it  has  commenced,  but  advocates  merely  a  milder  form  of 
spiritual  serfdom  than  that  of  Catholicism,  and  attaches  more  im- 
portance to  vague  and  uncertain,  supposed  to  be  revealed  truths, 
than  to  the  practical  and  self-evident  truths  of  life,  it,  like  all 
other  religions,  will  be  scornfully  rejected  and  overthrown,  by 
the  more  civilized  men  of  future  ages.  The  superior  religion  of 
Christianity  triumphed  over  Judaism,  and  the  more  rational  re- 
ligion of  Protestantism  has  made  a  more  wonderful  progress 
than  that  of  Catholicism  during  the  short  period  it  has 
existed,  but  if  its  grand  army  comes  to  a  halt  in  the 
march  of  freedom  and  human  liberty,  hundreds  of  thou- 
sand's of  humanity's  patritots  will  step  out  of  the  ranks 
and  continue  marching  onward  and  upward  until  they 
become  the  freeest  and  grandest  creatures  of  God's  creation; 
let  us  be  in  the  advance  guard  of  this  glorious  (inited  army  (that 
is  to  be)  and  become  protestants  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word, 
protesting  not  only  against  the  errors  of  Catholicism  but  against 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  IQ/ 

everything  we  consider  erroneous.  In  a  great  measure  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  French  in  this  province  depends  on  the  exam- 
ple of  the  English  Canadians,  therefore  we  should  strive  our  ut- 
most by  useful  and  noble  lives  to  win  their  admiration  and  respect, 
which  would  do  more  good  than  the  employment  of  hundreds  of 
missionaries.  The  government  of  the  country  cannot  be  expected 
to  accomplish  much  for  the  advancement  of  the  people  or  to  adopt 
a  compulsory  national  system  of  education  for  the  very  reason 
that  the  majority  of  the  members  of  parliament  are  the  slaves  of 
the  clergy  and  subservient  to  their  will,  from  this  it  might  appear 
that  there  was  little  hope  of  bettering  the  people's  condition  but 
on  reading  history  we  find  that  there  are  two  ways  by  which  ec- 
clessiastical  tyranny  is  generally  overthrown,  firstly  by  rebellion 
against  the  unprincipled  priesthood  whose  chief  aim  is  to  keep 
the  people  in  a  state  of  spiritual  subjection,  or  secondly  thro  the 
priesthood  being  obliged  to  encourage  among  their  followers  a 
more  liberal  education  through  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  on 
them  by  the  liberal  influence  of  protestantism  and  infidelity.  In 
the  revolution  in  France  in  1789  we  have  a  remarkable  instance 
of  the  desperation  and  cruelty  to  which  an  ecclesiastically  and  po- 
litically oppressed  people  can  be  driven  by  the  tyranny  of  their 
spiritual  and  temporal  rulers;  tho  the  deeds  of  the  revolutionists 
were  bloody  and  cruel  no  impartial  person  can  deny  the  fact  that 
altogether  it  has  been  a  blessing  rather  than  a  curse  to  France;  it 
was  as  a  terrific  thunder  storm,  frightful  at  the  time  but  an  absolute 
necessity  to  clear  away  the  enormous  clouds  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  that  hid  in  darkness  the  whole  of  France;  since  then 
France  has  become  a  grander  and  happier  nation  and  ranks  to  day 
(notwithstanding  its  infidelity)  as  the  most  civilized  of  all  the  cath- 
olic countries  of  the  earth;  in  Italy  also  the  grand  desire  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  for  liberty  upset  the  infallible  tyrant  from  his 
temporal  throne,  since  then  that  unfortunate  nation  has  begun  to 
recover  some  of  its  former  greatness;  all  those  who  have  studied 
this  ^question  acknowledge  that  such  revolutions  as  the  above 
would  in  all  probability  have  occurred  in  Canada  had  it  not  been 
taken  from  France  by  England,  to  use  a  vulgar  but  very  forcible 
expression  the  clergy  under  English  rule  "could  not  get  enough 
rope  to  hang  themselves,"  as  they  did  in  Italy  and  France,  for  it 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  »        v 

was  quite  natural  for  them  in  adopting  a  policy  for  the  church  to 
retain  the  sympathy  and  affection  of  the  people  as  much  as  pos- 
sible by  a  wise  and  judicious  policy  and  besides  they  knew  unde: 
a  heretic  government  they  could  not  t/ranize  over  the  people  as 
under  devout  Catholic  governments  which  are  very  often  the  ser- 
vile servants  of  the  church;  in  such  countries  they  can  of  course 
assume  a  more  domineering  policy;  it  was  also  quite  natur?!  when 
a  heretic  power  had  conquered  the  country,  for  the  people  them- 
selves to  be  fillcj^  with  thoughts  of  how  they  might  preserve 
"their  religion,  their  language  and  their  institutions,"  instead  of 
joining  their  fellow-countrymen  across  the  ocean  in  the  cry  of 
"Liberty,  Fraternity  and  Equality."  Thus  through  our  conquest 
of  the  country  almost  all  hopes  were  cut  off  of  the  people  ever 
freeing  themselves  from  priestly  rule  by  rebellion,  for  as  I  have 
already  said  its  conquest  by  heretics  created  a  bond  of  sympathy 
between  the  priesthood  and  the  people.  Thus  the  chief  ho[>c  of 
the  improvement  and  enlightenment  of  the  French  Canadians 
depends  on  English  influence  and  example,  which,  alas!  many 
Englishmen,  unworthy  of  that  honorable  name,  have  not  given 
to  the  Canadian  people,  but  by  their  despicable  lives  have 
brought  shame  and  dishonor  on  their  religion  and  nationality, 
and  many  Frenchmen  are,  through  their  inconsistencies,  kept 
from  professing  Protestantism  which  is  now  the  purest  form  of 
christanity.  In  fact  the  followers  of  Protestantism  can  never  ex- 
pect to  do  away  with  priestly  tyranny,  superstition  and  ignorance 
until  the  majority  of  them  make  the  grand  resolution  to  become 
individually  the  friends  of  humanity  by  becoming  the  most 
noble  men  and  women  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  There  is, 
however,  already  a  visible  improvement  throughout  the  province; 
the  priests  are  obliged  to  encourage  a  more  liberal  system  of 
education,  fearing  that  their  children  would  attend  our  schools 
and  colleges.  That  day  is  fast  approaching  when  the  education 
of  our  French  Canadian  countrymen  will  consist  of  something 
more  than  counting  beasts  and  saying  prayers.  They  have 
already  several  fine  schools  and  colleges  and  will  ere  long  be 
able  to  compete  with  u?  in  the  race  for  knowledge  as  their 
mother  country  does  with  ours  across  the  ocean's  wave.  Some 
expressions  I  have  used  in  connection  with  the  religion   of  our 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  1 99 

Canadian  friends  may  seem  rather  impolite  and  appear  to  them 
as  an  insult,  but  I  do  not  mean  it  thus  and  would  not  intention- 
ally hurt  their  feeling;s,  and  I  am  certain  if  they  try  and  show  us 
the  errors  of  our  religion  we  will  not  be  offended,  but  will  be; 
grateful  to  them  for  showing  us  whatever  errors  it  may  contain, 
for  we  all  acknowledge  that  it  is  far  from  being  perfect.  We 
should  all  remember  that  this  is  not  an  age  in  which  errors  can 
be  hid,  whether  they  be  spiritual  or  temporal  they  are  certain  to 
be  found  out  by  the  light  of  civilizatio  i  and  judged  accordingly, 
by  mankind.  We  should  not  be  offended  at  what  another  says 
against  us,  if  it  be  true  the  remark  ought  to  do  us  more  good 
than  harm,  if  not  true  our  conduct  and  lives  ought  to  be  suffi- 
cient to  prove  it  false,  in  which  case  our  accuser  should  rather 
have  our  pity  than  our  hatred.  Thus  1  would  have  our  Cana- 
dian friends  act.  Let  them  study  their  own  history  and  ours 
impartially  and  consider  the  low  condition  of  the  great  portion  of 
their  people,  and  if  they  can  prove  that  my  statements  are  false,, 
in  that  case  I  deserve  their  just  contempt;  if  not  let  them  do. 
away  with  those  doctrines  and  customs  that  dishonor  both  their 
religion  and  nationality,  and  join  their  Saxon  brothers  in  the- 
grand  work  of  liberating  mankind  from  the  most  objectionai 
features  of  the  thousands  of  religious  sects  that  exist  at  the 
present  day.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  should  not  we  try  and 
accomplish  our  fractional  part  in  this  grand  work,  by  earnestly 
striving  to  put  to  a  nobler  use  all  our  spare  time  than  we  now 
make  of  it,  and  unite  with  our  French  friends  in  forming  a  liter- 
ary association  with  a  public  library  containing  all  the  best  mag- 
azines and  newspapers  as  well  as  most  of  the  best  books  on  the 
most  useful  subjects  of  the  day.  A  library  that  our  village 
would  be  proud  of,  which  would  preserve  many  of  its  young 
men  from  the  low  degrading  influence  of  bar-rooms,  and  many  of 
its  young  ladies  from  wasting  many  hours  in  reading  sickly, 
sensational  novels.  Will  not  ours  be  the  deepest  of  ingratitude 
if  we  do  not  take  advantage  of  the  glorious  opportunities  that 
our  age  affords  us — an  age  of  cheap  literature,  clever  authors, 
eloquent  orators  and  excellent  newspapers,  that  are  capable  of 
imparting  knowledge  and  pleasure  at  the  same  time;  yet  if  we  do 
not  avail  ourselves  of  these,  and  pass  through  life  in  a  careless, 


20O  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

sluggish  way,  in  senseless  conversation  and  silly  games,  without 
a  single  aspiration  to  become  nobler  men  and  women  than  our 
ancestors,  will  we  not  deserve  the  everlasting  contempt  of  future 
generations."  It  was  well  received  by  those  present  and  did  not 
^  seem  to  give  oftense  to  three  French  Catholics  who  were  there; 
several  days  after  this  1  canvassed  and  had  23  gentlemen  and  19 
ladies  subscribe  their  names  to  the  following  document:  "We, 
the  undersigned,  hereby  agree  to  pay  an  entrance  fee  of  ^i  and 
a  monthly  fee  of  25cts.  to  form  a  literary  association  in  this  vil- 
lage, the  entrance  fee  to  be  paid  at  a  public  meeting  to  be  held 
on  the  20th  of  March,  ii?8i,at  the  English  schoolhouse, at  which 
the  laws  and  by-laws  for  it  will  be  made."  Of  the  names  8  were 
French  gentlemen  and  4  French  ladies.  Have  been  working  for 
Houde  of  late  at  ;$5.50  per  week  and  board  myself.  He  ;ind  Mr. 
Frechette  are  making  squared  timber  for  building  purposes  and 
fence  rails  to  sell  in  the  cleared  country  about  St.  Jean;  have 
also  let  out  contracts  for  squared  timber  at  i  ^^cts.  per  ft.  lineal 
measure.  While  at  Houde's  Mr.  Houde  made  a  remark  to  his 
wife  at  which  all  his  family,  sons  and  daughters  laughed.  It  was 
of  the  vilest  description,  language  that  it  would  be  imposssble 
for  me  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of;  I  would  not  have  thought 
that  Houde  would  utter  such  language  in  the  presence  of  his 
wife  and  daughters,  as  he  is  considered  a  very  respectable  and  de- 
vout catholic  by  the  majority  of  Canadians  in  these  parts.  Saw 
the  announcement  of  Richards  death  in  the  newspaper;  I  need 
hardly  say  how  sorry  we  were  for  he  ever  was  a  kind,  dear  and 
good  cousin  to  us.  Tom  and  I  wrote  uncle  Richard  as  follows: 
"Dear  uncle,  I  cannot  tell  how  surprised  and  grieved  I  was  to 
hear  of  the  death  of  Richard;  none  bnt  those  who  knew  him  in- 
timately can  know  how  great  your  loss  has  been.  Though 
death  has  removed  him  from  the  busy  .scenes  of  life,  and  time 
may  shroud  his  name  with  oblivion,  the  memory  of  his  name 
will  always  live  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends,  who  could  not  do 
otherwise  than  love  and  respect  him.  Trusting  that  you 
will  all  receive  consolation  from  that  unfailing  source 
from  which  it  may  be  obtained.  I  remain,  ever  your 
afftc.  nephew,  A.  N.  Howard."  "Dear  Arthur,  I  received  your 
kind  letters  of  condolence  on  the  de;ath  of  your  dear  cousin,  al- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  .  201 

though  I  have  been  expectin^r  the  blow  for  the  last  3^  yrs.,  yet 
when  it  came  we  felt  the  shocV  severely;  dear  Richard's  end 
w<is  peace,  he  died  in  the  Lord,  with  the  sure  and  certain  hope 
of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  throui^h  the  redemption  of  our 
blessed  Siviour;  may  God  Lless  you  b3tli  is  the  constant  prayer 
of  your  athicted  uncle,  R.  I.  Goldsmith."  VVaterford,  5th  March. 
"Djar  Tom,  I  had  a  long  letter  from  your  fither  a  couple  of 
weeks  since;  he  commenced  in  March  l88o,  and  finished  in  March 
1 88 1,  in  the  last  part  of  his  letter  h^  informs  me  that  he  received 
a  letter  froin  Ethel  Ch  irchill,  suggesting  her  brother  Beaufort 
going  out  to  help  him,  and  leirn  farming,  and  that  he  would 
write  to  him  and  was  pleased  with  the  idea,  I,  however  do  not 
approve  of  the  movement,  but  am  powerless  in  the  case;  Beau- 
fort has  been  out  of  employment  for  the  last  12  months,  business 
got  damped  by  the  land  league  and  Home  Rulers,  but  there  is 
not  much  work  in  him  anyway,  and  I  doubt  much  if  he  is  likely 
to  do  any  good,  or  make  himself  useful  to  your  father,  but  as 
you  may  not  have  heard  of  the  matter,  I  thought  it  well  to  ap- 
prize you,  as  it  seems  from  Ethel  Church's  note,  that  he  offers  to 
give  Beaufort  half  his  cattle  and  land,  and  teach  him  farming; 
there  was  some  correspondence  carried  on  previously,  but  I  did 
not  expect  it  would  amount  to  anything,  now  however  it  seems 
settled  and  I  cannot  prevent  it;  when  his  mother,  your  aunt,  Anne 
Churchill,  was  alive,  she  asked  me  to  take  charge  of  what  prop- 
erty she  had,  and  I  have  had  it  in  charge  ever  since,  and  have 
been  endeavoring  to  make  the  children  do  something  for  them- 
selves, but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  any  life  in  them,  and  are 
living  on  the  interest  of  the  money  their  mother  received  at  the 
death  of  her  husband,  who  was,  as  I  suppose  you  have  heard,  a 
mirine  surveyor  for  the  British  government  at  Canton,  China. 
We  are  having  just  noNV  a  run  of  very  keen  Easterly  winds  which 
are  very  trying,  almost  worse  than  frost  and  snow;  Edmund  says 
he  will  write  to  you  shortly;  I  suppose  you  heard  of  the  terrible 
death  of  your  uncle  Capt.  Richard  Howard;  fell  between  his  ship 
and  the  pier  in  one  of  the  East  Indian  Ports,  and  was  crushed  to 
death;  his  wife  is  now  stopping  in  London  with  a  married  sister, 
who  is  not  very  strong.  We  were  surprised  to  hear  from  your 
father  that  Arthur  had  been  trying  to  enter  the  army,  I  should 

26 


202  .    V       HISTORY  OF.  THE.  FRENCH  IN,  AMERICA. 

»• 

not  have  thought  an  energetic  young  man  like  him  would  like 
a  profession  with  s©  much  idle  duty  as  t;he  army.has  now — ^and 
I  hope  may  remain  so;  in  the  tnial  and,  man,yfacture  of  arms 
there  is  interesting  and  valuable  progress  going,  pn  tp  encourage 
ihterest  in  an  mtelligent  mind;  war  is  brutal  in  all  that  belongs 
to  it.  I  am  writing  for  this  post  and  must  conclude;  yours  affec- 
tionately, Timothy  S.  Howard."  On  the  20th  March  I  had  the 
schodl-house  in  Aston  prepared  for  the  meeting  of  the  literary 
association,  that  was  to  be;  only  five  that  had  subscribed  their 
names  arrived,  and  immediately  comtpenced  to  run  down  the 
project,  offering  as  many  objections  as  they  could,  and  Mr.  Wheel- 
er, our  school  trustee  said  they  would  charge  ;$25  a  yr.  rent  for 
the  hall  over  the  school-house;  I  used  all  the  persuasion  I  could, 
but  could  not  get  them  to  organize,  although  there  arrived  suf- 
ficient to  do  so;  there  is  great  scandal  about  St.  George  and  his 
wife,  who  are  always  quarrelling  and  making  peace  again,  this 
time  St.  George  has  engaged  a  lawyer  and  his  wife  has  returned 
home  to  her  mother.  "The  Elms,  March  20th.  Dear  Tom  and 
Arthur;'  I  must  apoligise  for  not  having  written  to  you  sooner. 
As  you  suppose,  I  got  a  great  shock  when  I  arrived  in  town  and 
uras  ni^t  by  Aunti Prim  who  told  me  that  poor  Richard  had  died 
that  morning)  although  I  knew  that  he  was  very  ill  but  I  had 
np  idea  he  was  as  bad  as  that,  it  must  haye  been  a  great  relief  to 
him,'he  suffered  so  much  and  so  long;  we  miss  him  very  much; 
It  seems  as^'tif  there  was  a  blank  that  can  never  be  filled;  what  a 
ibold  morning  it  was  when  I  left  your  place,  17  deg.  below  zero; 
We  nave  been  having  very  good  \yeather  for  sugaring  here  lately, 
the  roads  are  almost  bare  in  many  places;  wagons  are  used  be- 
tween here  and  Sherman;  there  is  very  little  frost  in  the  ground; 
While  in  Montreal  i  of  your  horses  was  drowned  in  drawing 
togs  on  the  ice  down  the  river,  what  a  disgraceful  thing,  the 
assassination  of  the  Czar  of  Russia;  it  was  doing  evil  with  the  idea 
that  good  might  come  of  it.  The  Land  League  appears  to  be 
Subsiding,  the  Coercion  bill  seems  to  have  frightened  them  into 
th'ore  moderate  language.  I  got  a  great  bargain  the  other  day, 
3  tons  of  straw  for  ;g>5;  straw  is  ;^6  a  ton  at  Sherman;  could  not 
Arthur  pay  me  a  visit  in  the  beginning  of  April;  must  now  close 
as  it  is  bed  time;  yonr  affec,  cousin,   Clifford   H.   Goldsmith/' 


HlfetOBiV  OF  THE  FRENCH  L^  AMERICA.  203 

.  '    .       - ,  ,'■■''  .■•■.' 

Wboden  troughs  are  used  in  the  old  system  of  making  sugar, 
and  the  trees  are  tapped  by  making  a  small  sloping  cut  in  the 
tree  with  an  axe,  and  placing  a  '^spout"  underneath  it;  the  boil- 
ing is  done  in  i»'on  kettles  over  an  open  wood  fire;  when  the  sap 

'  begins  to  ascend  in  the  maples,  which  is  generally  in  the  middle 
but  often  in  the  first  part  of  March,  the  trees  are  tapped;  the 
woodeh  troughs  are  easily  got  at,  as  they  are  always  stood  up 
by  the  tree  the  Autumn  before;  after  the  trees  are  all  tapped,  the 
sugar  maker  cleans  out  all  rust  out  of  his  kettles  by  polishing 
them  with  a  brick,  and  clears  away  the  snow  from  the  fire  place 
which  has  two  forked  posts  on  either  side,  with  a  pole  across, 
from  which  the  kettles  are  hung;  Pine,  Balsam,  Ash,  Brasswood 
and  beech,  are  the  usual  woods  used  for  troughs;  a  good  work- 
man can  make  50,  but  the  average  is  30  per  day;  the  camp  is 
generally  built  in  the  center  of  the  sugar  bush,  there  is  also  a 
revolving  post  with  an  arm  fastened  to  it,  on  which  the  sugaring 
off  kettle  is  hung,  so  that  immediately  when  the  sugar  is  finished 
it  can  be  swung  off  the  fire;  large,  heavy  logs  are  placed  on  tl;ie 
outside  edge  of  the  fire,  and  4  ft.  of  cordvvood  burnt  between  them; 
"tapping"  with  an  axe,  kills  the  trees  quicker,  than;  with  an 
auger,  the  cut  also  being  exposed  to  the  sun  dries  up  quicker; 
the  camp  must  always  be  built  close  to  water,  in  some,  cases  it 
is  a  mere  shelter  of  boards,  in  others^  a  small  log  building;  a  dis- 
advantage of  troughs  is,  that  much  sap  is  wasted. by  the^n-yp- 
setting  when  the  snow  melts,  also  in  emptying  it  into  the  buck- 
ets, when  gathering  it,  3  troughs  are  placed  to  a  large  treci,  2 
to  an  average  one.  and  i  to  a  small  one;  the  means  of  holding 
the  sap  at  the  can^p,  is  generally  a  long  trough,  and  sometimes 
in  hogsheads;  a  piece  of  coarse  canvass  is  generally  used,,  to 
strain  the  sap,  and  a  piece  of  flannel  to  strain  the  syrup;  the  sap 
is  generally  gathered  by  hand,  hut  often  with  a  horse  and  sleigh 
fastened  on  it;  a  piece  of  fat  meat  is  hung  over  the  bqiling  syrup 
to  prevent  it  from  boiling  over;  eggs  are  often  used  to  purify  the 

'  syrup,  by  raising  a  scum  on  its  surface,  which  is  skimmed  off, 
the  boiling  syrup  is  tested  by  blowing  it  through  a  small  hole 

■  in  a  wooden  "pallet;"  "not  quite  done  yet,  but  soon  will  be,  he 
mutters,"  after  a  few  minutes  he  tries  it  again,  and  a  white  silken 
bubble  floats  upon  the  air.     The  boys  now  get  tins  of  snow  and 


204  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

prepare  to  make  "wax,"  as  it  is  called  here  by  the  Enfrlish;  they 
pour  some  syrup  on  the  snow  but  it  does  not  crystalize,  after  a  few 
trials  it  partially  crystalizes,  and  makes  "wax,"  the  sugar  maker 
judges  when  it  is  sufficiently  boiled  by  testing  the  brittleness  of 
the  wax,  and  when  finished  is  swung  off  the  fire  and  gently 
stirred  till  it  is  partly  crystalized  and  is  then  put  in  moulds.  Old 
Brodeur  has  suffered  great  agony  for  several  days  past  from  in- 
flammation of  the  bowels,  yet  his  family  sent  first  for  the  priest 
and  for  the  dotcor  several  hours  after.  On  the  doctors  arrival 
he  indignantly  said,  had  I  been  sent  for  a  few  hours  sooner  I 
could  have  saved  his  life.     The  poor  old    fellow    looks   ghastly, 

•  the  cold  sweat  of  death  is  on  his  brow,  his  hands  are    ciasped   in 
■  agony,  his  features  pale  aad  shrunken,  without  doubt   death   has 

'  him  in  its  grasp;  he  is  unconscious  and  raving  and  strange  to  say 
!  he  raves  in  English,  on  accouiu  I  suppose  of  his  having  an  Eng- 
lish nurse.     His  wife  who  has  been  on  a  visit  in  the  U.  S.  arrived 
in  the  morning  just  as  he  died;  the  son   started  off  immediately 
for  the  essentials  for  the  funeral.     Many   a  pleasant  hour  have  I 
'  passed  with  the  poor  old   fellow  in  listening  to  his  early  experi- 
'  ences  in  the  backwoods;  he  was  a  jolly,  honest  and  liberal   old 
i  man,  remarkably  so  considering  the  superstition   and   ignorance 

•  he  was  surrounded  with  all  his  life.  That  night  I  went  to  his 
wake;  there  were  about  forty  people  praying  wiien  I  entered;  I 
knelt  with  the  rest;  La  Berge  lead  the  prayers  at  such  a  break- 
neck pace  that  even  the  most  skiliful  linguist  could  not  tell 
whether  they  were  the  prayers  of  Frenchmen  or  the  Hottentots 

•  of  Africa.     La  Berge  went  as'  ep  by  the  stove-  when  the  prayers 
^'  were  over;  Joe  Vincent  applied  a  heated  poker  to    his  bare  feet, 

the  effect  was   startling,   La  Berge  sprang  to  his  feet  with  a  vol- 
••  ley  of  oaths  in  French  and  English;  he   used  the    most   terrible 
''  French  oaths  from  "twist  God"  to  "d — d  virgin."    The  first  ap- 
*-'  peared   to   me   more   ridiculous  than  terrible  as  it  merely  meant 
'   the   twisting    of  a  piece   of  blessed   bread,  but  to  an  R.  C.  who 
believes  it  to  be  truly  the  body    of  God,  it  is   certainly  an  awful 
oath.      The  females  constantly  indulged  in  such  choice  expres- 
sions as    "My  God,   Savior  of  God,   Holy  Spirit,    Holy  Virgin, 
etc.,"  in  fact  the  general  conversation  was  but  a  few  degrees  bet- 
ter than  that  which  might  be  expected   of  savages.      The   next 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA.  20$ 

timp  they  prayed,  La  Berge,  the  blasphemous  wretch  had  the 
audacity  to  ask  for  mercy  on  the  dead  man's  soul,  when  his  own 
liad  most  need  of  it.  The  on.'y  appearance  that  a  dead  man  was 
in  the  house  was  that  white  sheets  hung  from  the  ceiling  around 
the  bed  and  one  over  the  corpse  with  a  gigantic  cross  upon  it. 
Suppressed  laughter  and  course  language  were  indulged  in  all 
evening.  The  corpse  was  put  in  the  coffin  at  3  o'clock;  they 
were  going  to  put  i!"  on  the  baie  shavings  in  the  coffin  till  one  of 
the  Carmicheals  suggested  that  a  white  sheet  be  thrown  over 
them.  Mrs.  H.  came  and  took  a  feather  pillow  from  under  his 
head  and  replaced  it  with  a  straw  one;  this  v/as  very  practical, 
but  I  think  it  .showed  a  want  of  feeling.  Next  evening  as  the 
funeral  passed  the  country  people  took  off  their  hats.  I  was 
greatly  disgusted  at  the  short  work  the  priests  made  of  the  cere- 
mon)'  over  the  remains  of  this  worthy  old  man  as  compared  with 
the  ponip  and  ceremony  cf  Mrs.  D's  funeral;  but  of  course  this 
religion  is  a  lucrative  trade  and  must  be  carried  on  on  a  strictly 
business-basis.  I  did  not  care  about  his  being  deprived  of  pomp 
and  ceremony,  but  what  filled  my  soul  with  indignation  was  the 
thought  that  this  so-called  priest  of  God  will  mutter  no  long 
prayers  for  the  repose  of  this  man's  soul,  but  chanted  masses 
and  repeated  long  prayers  for  Mrs.  D's  soul  because  her  family 
could  pay  ;$200  for  ther  Does  the  reader  think  that  a  just  God 
will  allow  these  ;$200  [  ayers  to  cause  him  to  make  a  distinction 
between  those  two  souls;  I  think  not  and  cannot  believe  that  any 
intelligent  being  (except  blind  with  fanaticism)  believes  that  a 
man's  condition  in  future  life  can  be  benefitted  by  the  prayers  of 
a  fellow  finite  man  and  still  much  less  by  prayers  that  are  pur- 
chased by  filthy  lucre.  And  yet  it  was  only  a  short  time  ago 
that  1  read  in  an  Eastern  newspaper  that  the  catholics  were  work- 
ing in  the  greatest  harmony  with  the  other  christian  sects  in  the 
good  work  of  trying  to  convert  the  "Mormons."  whose  religion 
in  my  estimation  is  in  most  ways  infinitely  superior  to  Catholicism 
and  more  in  accordance  with  the  scriptures,  and  A^hose  people 
are  in  education,  thrift,  industry,  honesty  and  temperance  vastly 
the  superiors  of  all  the  catholic  nations  of  the  earth  wherever 
that  dogmatic  church  receives  unqestioning  obedience  from  lis 
children.     I  cannot   hc'p  thinking  how  absurd  and  inconsistent 


206  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN N\MBRICA, 

.•■/'•....  „        ■       .    ' 

it  is  for  some  of  the  leading  men  in  this  great  republic  td  enter- 
tain such  a  bitter  hatred  and  foolish  fear  of  the  Mormon  church, 
and  at  the  same  time  maintain  neutrality  and  in  many  cases  ex- 
hibit friendship  towards  Catholicism,  which  with  its  barbaric 
ceremonies  and  awful  power  is  a  far  more  dangerous  enemy  than 
Mormonism  ever  could  be  to  civilization.  Is  it  wisdom  or 
justice  for  such  a  paper  as  the  Salt  Lake  Tribune \o  make  such  a 
clamor  about  the  danger  of  Mormonism  and  totally  ignore  the 
frightful  increase  of  Romanism  which  is  far  more  despotic  in 
giving  religious  liberty  to  its  followers  th-^n  is  the  Mormon 
church.  The  gentlemen  of  the  Tribune  well  know  that  no  man 
can  think  for  himself  on  religion  in  the  Catholic  church;  the 
doctrines  have  all  been  cut  and  dried  by  its  dogmatic  councils, 
and  have  to  be  swallowed  without  questions  by  its  followers  on 
pain  of  being  expelled  as  heretics.  Surely  if  the  Tribune  wishes 
to  defend  the  true  interests  of  humanity  it  ought  to  attack  the 
abuses  that  exist  in  other  churches  as  well  as  those  which  it 
claims  exist  in  the  Territory  of  Utah.  If  the  Mormon  church 
has  a  hierarchal  form  of  government  of  apostles,  patriarchs, 
bishops,  elders,  teachers  and  deacons,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  they  are  manly  enough  to  earn  their  own  living  and  preach 
the  gospel  according  to  scripture,  "without  money  and  without 
price;"  nor  do  they  wear  gaudy  robes,  nor  have  the  people  to 
kneel  before  them  as  they  pass  through  the  streets  as  is  the  case 
in  some  countries  of  Europe  and  which  I  have  myself  witnessed 
in  Quebec.  In  fact  the  Mormonchurch  might  well  be  called  a 
spiritual  republic,  as  all  men  possessing  ability  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  elected  to  some  office  in  the  church,  and  I  have 
noted  with  great  pleasure  the  treatment  the  poorer  classes  of  the 
people  receive  when  they  call  on  the  heads  of  the  church,  there 
is  none  of  that  false  sanctmonious  dignity  that  is  affected  by  the 
catholic  bishops  I  have  seen;  nor  is  their  any  of  that  cringing 
reverent  awe  in  the  faces  of  their  visitors  that  I  have  seen  in  the 
miserable,  priest  ridden  slaves  of  Quebec  while  they  stood  in  the 
presence  of  their  bishop.  But  I  do  not  want  the  fair  minded 
reader  to  misunderstand  me  as  will  the  reader  of  a  narrow  mind, 
who  will  at  once  come  to  the  conclusion  that  these  favorable  com- 
parisons are  drawn  merely  as  a  matter  of  policy,  but  I  merely  do 


HISTORV  OF. THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  20/ 

it  in  justice  and  out  of  admiration  for  this  conrageous  people 
who  have  thrown  down  the^jauntlet  to  the  whole  world  in  de- 
fense of  their^convictions,  and'Ifeel  confident  that  a  people  who 
have  saffered  and  accomplished  as  much  as  they  have  are 
capable  of  exerting  a  great  and  powerful  influence  in  this  earth 
therefore  I  wo.uld  like  to  see  this  people  happy, 
united  and  animated  with  a  worthy  ambition  and  stern 
determination  to  prove  to  the  world  the  falsity  of  the 
slanders  that  have  ^cen  heaped  upon  them  by  sects  and 
individuals  who  are  in  many  ways  inferior  to  them  and  more  ad- 
dicted to  ridiculous  and  worthless  pomp  and  ceremonies  than  the 
Saints,  which  appears  to  me  attach  more  importance  to  the  prac- 
tical truths  of  life  than  many  of  the  other  religious  sects;  in  fact 
what  I  read  of  this  people  before  coming  here  I  imagined  I  would 
find  one  of  the  most  superstitious  and  degraded  class-  of  people 
of  all  the  christian  churches,  and  to  my  most  agreeable  astonisl 
meat  I  found  a  people  vastly  the  superior  of  the  great  majority  of 
the  catholic  nations  of  the  earth;  this  superiority  appears  to  me 
of  still  greater  credit  to  the  priesthood  of  this  church  v/hen  I  con- 
sider that  a  great  many  of  the  Saints  are  composed  from  the  poorer 
inhabitants  of  Europe,  and  when  I  have  entered  the  neat  and  com- 
fortable homes  of  these  emigrants  Irom  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
heard  from  their  own  lips  how  prosperous  and  happy  they  were, 
and  attended  their  mutal  improvement  associations  and  saw  young 
ladies  ahd  gentlerqen  address  the  audience  extemporaneously  on 
scientific  and  literary  subjects  I  thought  to  myself  how  appropri- 
ately the  words  of  that  great  teacher  Christ  could  be  applied  to 
some  of  the  bigoted  sects  and  individuals  that  are  trying  to  con- 
vert them:  "Thou  hypocrite  first  cast  out  the  beam  that  is  in  thine 
own  eye  and  then  thou  shalt  see  clearly  to  remove  the  mote  from 
thy  brothers."  I  trust  however  when  I  bring  before  the  public 
the  history  of  Utah  and  Mormonism  I  am  now  engaged  on  to 
clearly  show  from  an  impartial  gentile  point  of  view  how  many 
pages  of  this  people's  history  deserves  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  the  world."  On  our  way  back  from  the  funeral  met  the  funeral 
of  a  man  that  died  of  delirium  tremens;  have  commenced  draw- 
ing manure  to  Oak  Hill  with  our  oxen,  Tom  is  drawing  rails  for 
Houde  with  his  team.  The  Nilhists  of  Russia  threw  glass  bombs 


208  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

at  the  Czar  and  nearly  blew  off  both  his  legs,  they  were  ampu- 
tated but  he  died,  20  persons  were  killed  and  wounded.  Ilanlan 
the  Canadian  oarsman  is  champion  of  the  world;  at  times  I  feel 
disgusted  with  myself  for  having  remained  so  long  in  the  con- 
taminating  society  of  this  place,  however  as  there  is  no  possibility 
of  my  entering  the  army  1  will  now  devote  my  life  in  trying  to 
make  farming  a  success,  that  is  if  our  kind  uncles  do  not  interfere 
too  much  with  the  management  of  our  farms,  if  they  do  1  shall 
abandon  farming  and  study  for  some  profession.  24th  March  took 
a  trip  to  Quebec,  after  I  changed  cars  at  Rawlings  I  took  notes 
of  the  scenery,  country  iiilly,  spruce  and  balsam,  second  growth, 
not  a  picturesqe  landscape  by  any  means,  many  of  the  clearances 
are  newly  cleared,  some  rocky  ledges  appear  through  the  hills, 
woodland  on  the  right  clearances  on  the  left,  no  primeval  forest 
in  sight  all  second  growth,  forest  and  clearances  intermixed,  all 
the  clearances  have  stumps  in  them,  some  neat  clapboard  houses, 
forest  on  both  stdes,  railway  passes  through  a  valley,  very  unin- 
teresting country,  second  growth  witfi  strips  of  clearances  here 
and  there,  the  houses  are  chiefly  frame  and  are  better  than  the 
log  houses  of  far  back  settlements,  a  very  high  range  of  hills  on 
the  left,  a  narrow  strip  of  clearance  on  both  sides,  pass  the  first 
brick  house,  large  railway  cuttings,  clearances  and  woodlands 
interspersed,  a  beaver  meadow  and  small  stream,  brushwood  on 
both  sides,  clearances  with  a  few  dilapidated  houses  and  nice 
looking  farms,  second  growth  again,  a  few  clearances  with  aver- 
age looking  farms  and  a  distant  view  on  the  left  of  a  long  low 
range  of  hills,  farm  houses,  deep  railway  cutting,  land  newly 
cleared,  some  house  in  them  painted  a  flaring  red.  second  growth 
and  clearances  interspersed,  ravine  and  hills  with  little  rills,  edges 
of  ground  on  either  side  obstruct  the  view,  country  newly  cleared, 
it  would  make-rfine  farming  country  if  properly  developed;  arrived 
at  Waterford  72  m.  from  Pt.  Levi;  saw  mill,  bark,  ties  and  cord- 
wood  near  it,  some  fine  views  of  hills  in  the  distance,  underbrush, 
country  much  wilder,  a  few  clearances,  country  hilly,  medium 
looking  farm  houses,  a  small  stream,  light  sandy  soil,  hardly  any 
stones;  red  seems  the  favorite  color  with  farmers  in  these  parts; 
tumbling  down  looking  farm  houses,  a  thick  growth  of  balsam 
trees  about  30  ft.  high,  view  of  hills  in  the  distance,   there  are  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  209 

great  many  cuttings  on  this  line,  a  few  clearances,  view  obstruct- 
ed on  either  side  by  rising  ground,  miserable  looking  clearances 
and  brushwood  intermixed,  view  of  church  steeple  in  the  far  dis- 
tance, miserable  clearances,  dilapidated  houses,  brushwood.cleared 
summit  of  a  hill  in  the  far  distance  with  houses  on  it;  a  drunken 
man  has  raised  a  row  in  the  car,  the  air  is  full  of  tobacco  smoke, 
the  floor  thickly  covered  with  tobacco  spits  and  half  intoxicated 
lumbermen  are  yelling  what  I  expect  they  imagine  "are  the  sweet- 
est songs  imaginable "  yet  poor  but  respectable  farmers  wive§ 
have  to  sit  for  hours  in  such  an  atmosphere  as  this  dreary  unin- 
teresting country;  it  is  amusing  to  hear  the  loud  and  animated 
conversation  carried  on  by  the  people,  lumbermen  relating  their 
experiences  last  season  during  their  lumbering  operations  on  some 
of  the  large  rivers  in  the  province,  old  farmers  with  their  short 
clay  pipes,  home  spun  clothes  and  dog  skin  caps  discussing  pro- 
foundly the  latest  politics  and  a  few  well  to  do  commercial  French- 
men with  that  air  of  dignity  that  shows  how  much  superior  they 
consider  themselves  to  farmers  and  laborers;  numerous  fine  farms 
on  the  right,  desolate  wild  country  on  the  left,  country  now  more 
level  covered  with  tamarac  and  poplar  second  growth,  clearances 
and  brushwood  alternately  in  the  distance,  a  ridge  of  hills  with 
houses  on  it,  scrubby  brushwood,  a  small  sugar  bush  with  a  farm 
house,  second  growth,  dreary  swampy  country  covered  with  tam- 
arac and  poplar;  arrive  at  St.  Andre,  has  a  bark  factory,  a  small 
river  runs  through  the  village,  has  some  very  nice  houses  and  a 
few  city-like  houses,  ridge  of  hills  on  the  right  running  parallel 
with  the  rly,  clearances  here  and  there  on  its  summit,  brushwood 
on  both  sides,  a  stream  with  a  saw  mill  on  it,  ridge  of  hills  again 
in  sight  on  the  right,  can  see  an  immense  distance  on  the  left 
over  a  vast  unbroken  forest,  a  cross  at  a  corner  where  several 
roads  meet;  a  Frenchmen  tells  me  that  these  crosses  (which  ex- 
ist all  over  the  country)  "are  for  the  people  to  assemble  at  and 
say  a  few  prayers  when  the  weather  is  so  bad  as  to  prevent  them 
from  going  to  church;"  surely  God  would  be  just  as  pleased  to 
have  them  say  their  prayers  at  home  as  to  wade  over  muddy 
roads  to  say  them  before  a  piece  of  whitewashed  timber  in  the 
form  of  a  cross;  pass  a  village  with  stacks  of  hemlock  bark,  rly 
ties,  cordwood,  rails,  &c.;  a  prettily  situated  village  in  view  in  the 

27 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

.distance,  some  sugar  bushes;  I  have  never  before  gazed  towards 
the  horizon  and  seen  such  an  extensive  and  unbroken  tract  of 
forest,  houses  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge  to  the  right,  some  pretty 
little  houses  but  generally  too  close  together  as  about  St  Jean; 
the  boy  that  sells  candy,  fruit,  stationary  and  newspapers  must 
have  a  good  opinion  of  the  capacity  of  the  passengers  purses,  he 
passes  around  so  often;  brushwood  obstructs  the  view,  rocky 
•land  in  a  half  cleared  condition,  over  the  ridge,  of  rising  ground 
bti  the  right,  brushwood  and  clearances  interspersed;  arrived  at  a 
small  village  49  m.from  Pt.  Levi,  has  a  church  and  a  tannery,  is 
a  small  loose  stragglinjr  village  with  much,  bark  and  cordwood 
about  it;  the  same  continuous  range  of  hills  are  still  visible  on 
the  right;  the. country  is  newly  settled  here,  pass  a  small  saw  mill; 
second  growth  of  ash  and  balsam  with  farms  here  and  there;  ano 
.  ther  small  village  with  acres  upon  acres  covered  with  stacks  of 
hemlock  bark,  the  largest  part  of  this  village  is  I  hear  ^  of  a 
mile  away,  another  village  consisting  of  a  few  houses;  hotel,  store*, 
postoffice  and  depot,  another  small  collection  of  houses,  stunted 
evergreens,small  clearances  second  growth,  a  stopping  place,  a  few 
houses,  forest  trees  are  somewhat  larger,  range  of,  hills  on  the 
right  level  and  swampy  on  the  left;  a  Frenchman  has  just  remarksid 
that  great  numbers  of  that  people  were  going  to  the  United  States; 
pass  through  a  very  extensive  bog  covered  with  peat,  stunted 
spruce  and  balsam,  very  level  and  uninteresting  country;  a  small 
village;  the  range  of  hills  on  the  right  deiserve  the  nameof  qipun^ 
tains;  pas.s  thro  a  large  swamp  covered  with  stunted  balsams, 
spruce  and  tamarac,  cleared  land,  a  mountain  on  the  left,  high 
rocks,  towering  at  least  100  ft.  and  in  some  places  several  hundred 
ft.  above  the  rly  on  either  side;  arrive  at  Pt.  Levi,  which  consists 
of  a  long  row  of  straggling  houses  at  the  foot  of  an  immense 
rocky  cliff  that  overhangs  it;  the  harbor,  of  [Quebec  ig  2  miles 
across,  its  greatest  depth  is  28  fathoms;  iho  the  water  is  fresh 
the  tide  rises  from  17  to  24  ft.  the  harbor  is  large  enough  to  con- 
tain the  whole  British  navy;  in  1844  the  county  of  Quebec  con- 
tained 45,000  pop.  the  city  and  suburbs  43,000.  28,000  being  Can- 
atdians  of  French  origin,  8,000  British  of  which  7,000  were  Irish, 
1,500  natives  of  England  and  the  rest  Scotch;  36,000  of  the  city's 
pop.  belong  to  the  church   of  Rome;    crossed  the  harbor   in   a 


%        HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  211 

handsome  ferry  steamer;  went  to  a  cheap  boarding  house,  paid 
25  cts  a  meal  and  25  cts  for  bed;  theFc  is  on!/  one  theatre  which 
is  French;  asked  fDr  tiie  nearest  .stationers  and  fuund  it  ^'  of  a 
mile  off  also  that  all  the  stores  were  closed  altho  it  was  only  S. 
o'clock;  read  in  the  Mercury,  a  very  small  English  newspaper, 
published  in  Quebec;  next  day  had  only  fried  cod  and  bread  and 
tea  as  it  was  *  un  journee  maigre"  or  in  other  words  a  day  of 
fasting;  took  a  walk  on  Dufferin  terrace,  which  is  a  beautiful 
promenade  in  summer,  it  is  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill  along  the 
edge  of  which  an  ornamental  ftnce  runs;  there  is  also  an  elevator 
to  carry  people  up  and  down  from  the  upper  to  the  lower  town: 
a  few  years  ago  a  man  slipped  on  the  edge  of  the  clifTand  rolled 
over,  he  could  not  regain  his  legs  and  rolled  to  the  bottom  and  was 
killed;  passed  a  garden  in  which  were  the  monuments  of  Wolfe 
and  Montcalm,  the  brave' English  and  French  generals  that  fell 
in  that  battle  that  gave  to  England  the  possession  of  "the  Gibral- 
ter  of  America;"  there  were  several  cannon  on  the  terrace  point- 
ing over  the  lower  town  on  to  the  river;  on  mounting  a  long 
dizzy 'flight  of  stairs  i-eached  fhe  citadel  from  which  a  glorious 
panorama  of  the  country  lay  before  'my  eyds','  the  interior  of  the 
citadel  i^  at  least' 20  ft.  below  the  surface  of  the  llill  on  which  it 
is  built  and  is  encased  with  thick  walls  of  cut  stone;  acircuituou^ 
road  goes  around  inside  of  the  citadel,  passed  the  soldiers  quar- 
ters and  arrived  at  a  covered  gateway  andasked  a  sentry  if  stran- 
gers are  allowed  to  visit  the  citadel,  he  called  out  the  sergeant 
who  invited  me  in  while  he  finished  his  breakfast  of  herrings, 
bread  and  coffee  after  which  he  ordered  one  of  the  soldiers  to  show 
me  about  the  citadel,  saw  a  great  many  "cannon  and  howitzers  and 
large  piles  of  shells,  and  some  cannister  shot,  as  well  as  a  cannon 
captured  from  the  Americans,  and  the  spot  where  Mbntgomery  fell; 
also  guns  captured  from  the  French  anB  Russians;  the  officers, 
instead  of  each  having  a  separate  house,  all  occupy  apartments 
in  a  very  fine,  large  building;  some  of  the  married  ones  have 
houses  in  the  city;  the  stables  are  built  of  stone,  and  contain 
some  very  fine  horses;  saw  the  entrance  to  the  underground  tun- 
nel that  leads  to  a  round  tower  in  the  direction  of  the  plains  of 
Abraham,  and  the  powder  magazine «;  started  for  the  falls  o( 
Montmorenci,  8  miles  distance  down  the   North  side  of  the  St. 


212  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.       ^ 

Lawerance;  paid  the  cabman  ^?,  drove  across  the  St.  Charles 
River,  was  surprised  at  seeing  so  many  dogs  used  for  drawing 
small  carts;  somewhat  over  lOO  yrs.  ago,  ladies  in  Queb  c  used 
to  drive  in  sleighs  drawn  by  dogs;  Charlevoix  says  "that  horses 
were  first  introduced  in  1665;"  drove  along  the  road  called  "Le 
Chemin  de  Beaufort."  The  farms  are  very  narrow  but  have  nice 
houses,  all  of  them  have  chimnies  ant.  open  fire  places;  there 
are  numerous  stone  houses,  and  those  of  wood  have  in  many 
instances  the  Italian  style  of  roof,  many  of  the  houses  deserve 
the  name  of  country  gentleman's  mansions,  surrounded  as  they 
are  by  trees,  gravel  walks,  &,  In  some  placts  there  was  6  ft. 
deep  of  snow,  and  we  drove  over  the  highest  fence.^,  in  other 
places  it  was  quite  bare;  passed  Beaufort  Lunatic  Asylum,  which 
has  a  capacity  for  400,  is  a  very  imposing  building  of  cut  stone, 
surrounded  by  beautiful  grounds,  river  St.  Lawerance  in  sight; 
the  meadow  land  slopes  gently  towards  the  river's  edge;  passed 
a  large  stone  church  at  Beaufort  village,  also  one  of  the  smallest 
churches  in  the  world,  only  12  ft.  square;  reach  the  park-like 
grounds  that  surround  the  falls,  in  which  there  is  a  hotel,  where 
strangers  register  their  names,  and  pay  25cts.;  citizens  of  Quebec 
are  admitted  free;  the  prevailing  trees  in  the  grounds  above  the 
falls,  are  Spruce,  and  Arbor- Vitae,  also  Aspens,  Alders  and 
mountain  Ash;  a  ravine  runs  from  the  St.  Lawerance  river  in  the 
shape  of  the  letter  V,  the  sides  of  the  ravine  are  almost  perpen- 
dicular, about  300  ft.  high,  and  covered  with  evergreen  shrubs; 
the  river  falls  perpendicularly,  nearly  250  ft.  high  at  one  pitch; 
the  St.  Lawerance  only  falls  160  ft.  at  Niagara;  the  waters  below 
the  falls  were  white  with  foam.  Returned  home  on  the  26th; 
there  are  17  rly.  stations  between  Rawlings  and  Point  Levi.  Ex- 
tract from  a  letter  from  E.  Howard.  "We  are  much  less  dis- 
turbed in  Ireland  than  you  may  perhaps  think;  the  outrages  have 
been  much  exaggerated  for  political  purposes;  no  one,  out  of 
Ireland  can  form  an  idea  of  how  things  are  here;  it  was  very 
cold  for  Ireland  last  January,  ice  6^  inches  thick."  From 
Uncle  Richard,  "A  patient  of  mine  has  bought  land  from  Mr. 
Baker  of  Richford;  could  you  without  inconvenience  let  me  know 
what  the  quality  of  the  land  is;  I  had  a  very  kind  loving  letter 
of  sympathy  from  your  Uncle  Jerrrold  a   few   days  ago;  I  paid 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  213 

him  jC2C00,  that  I  had  borrowed  from  him;  I   suggested  to  him 
to  have  i^iooo  here,  but  he  said   I  could  do  so   if  I   gave  him  8 
per  ct,  for  it;  as  that  was  impossible,  I  sent  it  over  to  him;  I  could 
get  a  promise  of  12  or  even  15  for  it,  with  the  greatest  prospect  of 
losing  interest  and  principal;   Montreal  bank  at  par   is  paying  lO 
per  ct.,  but  the  stock  is  selling  at  186,    which  makes  it  scarcely 
4}4  per  ct.;  as  things  stand   here,  all   securities   are  very  shaky, 
and  the  man  that  can  invest  his   money  or  his  own   labor  in  his 
own  property  is  lucky.     I  have  been  attending  the  hospital  since 
the  1st  of  Jan.,  my  tim-  expires  on  the  1st  of  June.     I,  and  your 
aunt  are  going  to  the  U.  S.  to  see  Flora  and  the  addition  to  their 
family;  I  should  like  Arthur  to  visit  Cliftord  before  your  busy 
time  commences;  I  have  a  notion  of  selling  tlie   Elms  if  I    can 
get  a  purchaser,  and  try  and   get  him   a  better  farm  if  possible, 
near  Montreal;  as  you   may   imagine,  we  are  very  lonely  here 
now;  with  love  to  you  both,  in  which  your  aunt  unites  dear  Tom 
and  Arthur,  your  loving  uncle,  R.  I.  Goldsmith."     For   a  belief 
in  God,  revelations  we  do  not  need;  the  universe  and  all  that  in 
it  exists,  are  the  revelations  we  receive.     Had  an  argument  with 
father,  that  a  people  had  a  perfect  right  to  rebel  against  a  mon- 
arch, and  even  destroy  him,  if  he  infringed  on  the  liberties  of  the 
people.     "Grange,  VVaterford,  March  '8 1 .    Dear  Arthur,  I  should 
have  answered  your  long  letter  sooner,  but  have  had  an  unusual 
amount  of  correspondence  of  late;  even  now  I  fear  I  am   unable 
to  answer  your  letter  at  any  great  length;  I   agree  with  some 
things  you  say.  as  to  the   undesirability  of  long   estate,    and  on 
some  other  points,  such  as  the  horrible  loss  caused  by  war,  but 
I  suppose  we  must  continue  to  diff.r  about  many  things  in  Ire- 
land; the  Irish    Catholics  have  never  been  allowed  to   govern 
themselves  like  other  countries,  and  have  not  the  self  restraint 
and  moderation  in  expressing  themselves,  that  comes  from  ex- 
perience in  self  government;  it  is  quite  likely  that  Ireland  would 
make  many  mistakes  if  she  set  about  managing  her  own  affairs 
all  at  once,  just  as  a  man  who  puts  on  skates  for  the  first  time; 
but  the  experience  gained  in  floundering  about  is  useful,  and  in 
due  time  I  expect  we  would  do  fairly  well;  at  present,  Irish  af- 
fairs are  entirely  managed  by  Gt.  Britain,  and  we  have  no  chance 
to  learn  how  to  manage  them,  in  fact  Irish  questions  in  parlia- 


214  HIS'i;ORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEklCA. 

ment,  are  generally  settled  in  a  way  contrary  to  the  expressed 
wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  people;  if  any  Canadian  province 
Were  treated  in  the  same  way,  I  am  confident  that  in  a  few  years  . 
its  people  would  be  as  dislojal  as  the  Irish;  the  Boers  in  Tians- 
vaal  are  good  Protestants,  but  that  does  not  prevent  them  from 
fighting  for  their  liberties,  rather  than  allow  themselves  to  be 
annexed  rnd  ruled  by  the  British  grvernment,  and  nearly  all  the 
civilized  world  admires  them  for  their  indep  ndant  spirit.  Last 
January  we  had  some  of  the  coldest  weather  that  has  been  known 
in  Ireland  for  60  yrs,,  there  was  ice  6  inches  thick  over  a  ford 
near  here,  and  snow  lay  on  the  ground  for  a  week,  the  roads 
being  in  a  good  condition  for  sleighmg;  quantities  of  ice  float 
doWn  the  river,  vfhich  is  over  a  furlong  wide,  at  VVaterford  bridge- 
it  has  not  been  frozen  over  since  18 14,  and  ice  is  not  even  float- 
ing on  it  more  than  once  in  10  yrs.;  there  is  a  factory  in  town 
for  making  ice,  to  be  used  in  bacon  curing  in  summer,  but  quite 
lately  a  cargo  of  several  hundred  tons  of  ice  was  discharged  at 
the  quay  from  a  Norwegian  vessel.  "You  would  be  surprised  at^ 
all  the  earth  (three  ft.  thick  at  the  base)  and  stone  fences  (called 
ditches)  dividing  the  fieldsin  this  country;  they  waste  much  room^ 
but  where  a  man  does  not  own  his  farm,  he  cares  4ess  about- 
economizing  the  land;  in  England  the  feudal  system  of  Scvant' 
farming  does  less  harm  than  in  Ireland,  because  the  British- man*-' 
ufacturers  and  commerce,  give  employment  to  those^  Who  canndt 
find  work  on  the  land,  but  Irish  manufacturers  and  com- 
merce were  almost  destroyed  by  British  laws  in  the  last  century, 
and  have  never  since  recovered,  besides  Ireland  isnaturally  poorer 
in  mineral  wealth  than  Great  Britain,  so  that  in  Ireland  nearly 
every  farmer's  son  or  laborer's  son  has  to  find  work  on  the  land 
or  emigrate,  which  state  of  affairs  has  caused  an  unnatural  de- 
mand for  farms  and  tempted  Irish 'lanolords  to  constantly  raise 
tlieir  rent.  When  bad  seasons  have  come  landlords  have  in 
many  cases  heartlessly  turned  out  those  peasants  who  could  not 
pay  their  rent,  and  30  years  ago-  this  resulted  in  many  thousands 
of  men,  women  and  children  dying  in  the  ditches  or  in  emigrant 
ships,  yet  the  Irish  people  had  raised  more  food  than  was  suffi- 
cient to  support  themselves  in  those  terrible  famine  years,  but 
the  corn  and  cattle  which  they  raised  were  nearly  all  shipped  oft 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  21$ 

to  England  tO' pay  Kent's,  while  the'  pfeopid  Were  left  to  starve, 
and  their  houses  pulled  down  to  prevent  them  from  going  back 
•to  live  m  them.  If  Ireland  had  been  a  self-governing  country, 
no  such  laws  would  have,  been  permitted  tj  exist  as  those  by 
which  Irish  landlords  confiscated  all  improvements  made  by 
their  teneats  and  raised  their  rents  to  starvation  point;  but  then 
as  as  now,  Ireland  was  governed  by  the  Imperial  Parliament, 
which  has  always  been  ignorant  of  the  wants  of  the  Irish  people 
and  has  always  governed  Ireland  in  support  of  the  interests  of 
the  landlords.  LJntil  the  ballot  act  was  passed,  lo  or  12  years 
ago,  the  Irish  people  had  not  even  the  means  of  voting  for  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  of  their  own  choice  without  a  prospect  of 
being  evicted  by  their  landlords.  Now  things  are  changed  for 
the  better  in  some  respects.  We  have  for  the  first  time  a  pretty 
compact  body  of  men  in  Parliam^nfe  really  representing  the  wish- 
es of  the  Irish  -people  and  determined  to  win  from  an  unwilling 
government  some  substantiil  reform  of  the  land  laws,  which  Gt. 
Britain  has  forced  on  us  against  our  wishes.  The  Irish  people 
are  also  determined  not  to  go  on  paying  high  rents  to  which  the 
landlords  have  no  moral  claim.  What  Parnell  and  the  I-and 
Leaguers  demand  is  that  the  Irish  tenant  farmers  should  have  a 
legal  right  to  buy  the  landlords'  interest  in  the  land  they  culti- 
vate, so  as  to  put  an  end  to  this  miserable  Irish  land  question  in 
the  same  way  that  the  same  question  was  settled  in  Prussia  70 
years  ago.  As  regards  Mr.  S,  he  being  a  religious  man,  is  like 
many  other  religious  people,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  a 
little  superstitious  in  somft  doctrines,  but  I  think  he  is  freer  from 
bigotry  and  intolerance  than  most  Protestants.  I  myself  am 
about  as  far  from  being  a  Catholic  as  any  one  I  know,  but  I 
v/ould  prefer  to  entrust  my  religious  and  political  liberty  to  such 
men  as  Mr.  S.  than  half  the  Protestants  I  have  met,  so  far  as  my 
knowledge  and  observation  goes,  and  I  have  lived  30  years 
among  them.  Irish  Catholics  as  a  body  have  no  desire  to  perse- 
cute Protestants,  which  is  remarkable,  considering  the  amount  of 
persecution  they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Protestants. 
Catholic  worship  was  forbidden  under  heavy  penalties,  and 
Catholic  priests  were  hunted  down  like  wolves  in  Ireland  in  the 
last  century,  but  the  Irish  Catholics  when  in  power  under  James 


2l6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

II  did  not  attempt  to  persecute  the  Protestants  for  their  rehgion. 
It  is  also  remarkable  that  the  first  community  to  establish  com- 
plete religious  liberty  was  the  Catholic  colony  in  Maryland, 
under  Lord  Baltimore,  in  1670.  Their  example  was  followed  by 
the  Catholic  governor  of  New  York  and  the  Quakers  under 
Penn  some  years  after,  while  Massachusets  bitterly  persecuted 
Quakers  and  other  sects.  In  Eastern  Canada  in  past  times  the 
Catholics,  although  in  a  majority,  showed  no  desire  to  persecute 
the  Protestants.  We  are  all  prejudiced  more  or  less,  and  there- 
fore in  his  case  we  must  make  allowances  for  his  prejudice.  Open 
rebellion  for  Ireland  is  not  a  wise  course  of  action,  the  odds 
against  her  is  too  great;  agitation  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament 
and  passive  resistance  to  unjust  laws  as  is  now  carried  on  b  -  the 
Irish  people  are  much  better  weapons  for  a  weak  nation  against 
a  strong  military  and  naval  power  like  Great  Britain.  The  Irish 
have,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  often  been  divided  in  times  past,  but  at 
present  and  for  many  years  about  five- sixths  of  the  people  have 
been  united  in  their  demand  for  se^^  'crnment  such  as  is 
possessed  by  the  Canadian  Provinces.  Ireland  would  I  think  be 
more  loyal  to  the  Imperial  Parliament  if  allowed  to* manage  her 
own  affairs  of  which  most  of  the  members  of  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament know  so  little.  I  fear  that  mutual  jealousies  among 
nations  will  for  a  long  time  prevent  any  such  arrangement  for  the 
temporary  or  permanent  abolition  of  war  as  that  which  you  have 
so  carefully  sketched.  Your  affectionate  cousin,  E.  Howard." 
While  playing  checkers  with  Dr.  Bacon,  Dr.  Oliver  entered;  he 
and  Dr.  B.  are  warm  friends;  Dr.  B.  nursed  him  when  he  was 
half  dead  from  delirium  tremens  and  preserved  his  life  when  his 
wife  and  prosperity  friends  deserted  him.  Poor  Dr.  O.  is  a  tal- 
ented man  and  once  had  n  very  extensive  practice,  but  through 
drink  and  opium  is  a  miserable  wreck.  The  Guy  Family  enter- 
tainment has  again  visited  Aston;  the  most  amusing  part  to  me 
was  Mr.  Guy,  Sr.  who  imitated  every  laugh  (so  naturally)  from 
infancy  to  tremulous  old  age  that  he  took  the  house  by  storm; 
those  of  warm  hearts  and  temperaments  enjoyed  a  hearty  laugh, 
and  even  the  most  phlegmatic  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  con- 
descended to  allow  the  risible  muscles  of  their  faces  to  slightly 
move.      While  at  Grant's  Miss  E.  Grant  wanted  me  to  subscribe 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  217 

for  a  newspaper  at  $1.30  a  year  and  that  I  would  get  2  chromos 
worth  $1  with  the  paper;  told  her  I  could  not  see  how  the  pub- 
lishers could  carry  on  such  a  business  without  bankruptcy. 
Spent  a  pleasant  evening  at  Meredith's;  Mrs.  M.  is  suffering 
from  a  bad  cold  she  caught  while  dancing  at  the  Town  Hall. 
Mrs.  Murphy  tells  me  that  Kirwin  is  a  brutal  and  drunken  hus- 
band to  Nora  Dob^' ty.  Spoke  with  Mr.  M.  who  was  under- 
brushing  near  the  juse;  Cold  weather  this  afternoon,  Mr.  Mur- 
phy. ''Thin  indadc  you  re  right  thare,  its  the  quare  conthrarey 
weather  we  have  been  having  of  late.  How's  youre  father  and 
brother  ?"  "Quite  well,  thank  you."  "And  you  uncle's  people, 
how  are  they?"  "All  quite  well,  thank  you;  I  suppose  you  in- 
tend to  clear  this  piece  of  land  this  year?"  "Yes,  this  spring  if 
I  can  manage  it.  Did  you  hear  anything  of  Ireland  in  the 
papers  of  late  ?"  "Yes  I  received  several  Irish  papers  a  few  days 
ago;  the  coersive  measure  passed  and  seems  to  have  frightened 
most  of  the  Land  Leagures  into  more  moderate  language.  The 
Government  has  bought  100,000  acres  of  land  from  some  of  the 
landlords  and  are  gomg  to  sell  it  to  Irish  peasants;  this  is  a 
proper  move  in  the  ri^^ht  direction,  but  what  is  100,000  acres 
amongst  a  few  million  people."  "Yes,  youre  right  there,  and 
shure  its  a  disgrace  how  some  of  the  land  league  members  have 
deserted  their  leader."  "Well,  I  see  nothing  surprising  in  it. 
Mr.  Parnell  might  have  known  that  the  most  devout  Irishmen 
think  more  of  their  religion  than  of  their  country,  and  that  it 
would  give  them  offense  to  see  him  associate  and  receive  such  a 
good  reception  from  the  red  republicans,  who  are  looked  upon 
by  all  good  Catholics  as  most  ungodly  and  wicked  men.  Par- 
nell has  also  through  this  cause  lost  the  sympathy  of  many 
of  the  clergy."  "Well,  yes,  I  suppose  he  should  not  have 
gone  near  those  French  who  hate  and  would  overthrow 
all  religion  if  they  could;  still  I  think  that  the  chief 
cause  of  the  desertions  was  the  bribery  and  the  British 
gold.  Arlington  the  municipal  secretary  called  to  take 
the  census.  The  French  are  very  gay  of  late,  have  dances  sev- 
eral nights  in  succession,  danced  up  to  12  o'clock  and  then  stop- 
ped as  Lent  commenced;  one  young  man  less  devout  than  the 
'  rest  proposed  that  they  should  dance  a  few  hours  .more  which  all 


2l8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

the  young  women  refused  to  do  and  appeared  honified,  yet  these 
same  women  and  girls  laugh  heartily  at  songs  that  are  50  degrees 
below  decency.  It'Seemf?  so  absurd  that  people  should  surfeit 
themselves  with  fodd  and  'amusements  for  the  several  days  pre- 
ceding Lent  and  then  'deprive  themselves  of  many  of  the  God- 
given  comforts  for  40  days.  Extract  from  a  letter  to  Edmund: 
*'The  Irish  can  never  expect  England  to  give  them  their  entire  in- 
dependence on  account  of  its  close  proximity  to  England;  let  us 
hope  however  that  the  Irish  will  ere  long  succeed  in  getting  jus- 
tice; how  much  better  for  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  if  her 
statesmen  could  be  brought  to  see  that  their  policy  is  unwise  on 
account  of  its  being  in  two  opposite  extremes,  in  Ireland  too  op- 
pressive and  in  Cani*da  too  indifferent,  causing  the  majority  of  the 
Irish  to  be  always  in  a  state  of  discontent  and  the  Canadians  to 
look  on  England's  hold  on  the  country  as  merely  nominal;  this 
can  be  clearly  seen  by  reading  some  of  the  leading  newspapers 
in  both  countries;  in  Ireland  columns  full  of  bitter  reproaches 
against  the  government  and  in  Canada  articles  on  annexation  to 
the  U.  S.  or  of  appointing  a  Canadian  governor,  also  supposit4i>ns 
as  to  whether  Canada  will  be  annexed  to  the  U.  S.  or<  b.^come  a 
nation  of  herself;  one  would  think  "John  Bull''  wisould  h-a^ve  ac- 
quired wisdom  by  the  war  of  1775  but  he  setims  to.have  forgotten 
it  and  to-day  is  in  a  fair  way  of  losing  one  of  the  most  valls'ablb 
of  his  possessions  through  foolish  indifference  this'  tima  irffetCcid 
of  unjust  taxes  and  stupid  obstinate  rulers  as  in  1775;  j^ist  tliiink 
of  one  of  the  leading  English  newspapers  said  sometime  ago  that 
"England  did  not  care  if  Canada  was  to  become  an  independent 
nation  or  be  annexed  to  the  U.  S."  I  cannot  agree  with  you  on 
the  question  of  protection,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  of  im- 
mense benefit  to  young  countries  with  their  resources  in  a  yet 
undeveloped  state,  especially  where  there  are  other  countries  (in 
close  proximity)  with  their  industries  already  established  and  ca- 
pable of  retarding  the  undeveloped  industries  of  their  neighbor 
by  flooding  their  markets  with  cheap  goods.  There  are,  I  think, 
3  periods  in  the  existence  of  some  nations  as  regards  protection, 
firstly  when  a  country  has  only  a  few  inhabitants,  then  of  course 
nearly  all  manufactured  goods  have  to  be  imported  from  other 
countries,  there  not  being  a  sufficient  number  of  consumers  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA  219^ 

make  the  "home  market"  large  enough  to  make  home  industries 
worth  while,  the  2d  period  is  when  the  country  becomes  more 
thickly  inhabited  and  a  greater  revenue  is  required  to  make  rail- 
roads, deepen  rivers^and  harbors  and  ,make.  canals,  ike  How  is 
this  revenue  to  be  ira.ised?  this.is  the(liiiestion  tlwt  has  given  birth 
to  protection;  the  protectiontsti  siys  ^5  koi6,qoo,o(jq  are  required 
to  perform  these  many  public  works*  vv|jich  ace  "absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  development  of  the  courtt«ytriour  jioljcy  isito  raise  a 
great  part  of  the  amount  by  imposing  a  duty  on,.  a(il>  imported 
goods  that  can  be  manufactured  with  profit  at  home  •  instead  of 
raising  the  whole  amount  by  direct  taxation,  from  which  the  na- 
tion only  derives  the  benefit  of  the  amount  of  work  done  on  the 
public  works,  whereas  by  raising  part  of  the  amount  by  an  in- 
creased tariff  we  give  an  impetus  to  home  industries  by  infusing- 
enterprise  and  confidence  into  capitalists  who  at  once  build  fac- 
tories and  are  enabled  with  the  tariff's  aid  to  compete  with  foreiga 
industries  that  are  more  firmly  established  and  who  manufacture 
in  such  large  quantities  that  even  for  a  cent  a  lb.  or  yd.  clear  j  rofife 
they  can  afford  to  export  their  goods  to  foreign  markets  and  hold 
those  markets  for  many  yrs  against  the  feeble  competition  of  the 
undeveloped  home  industries  under  the  theoretical  advantages  of- 
"free  trade;"  the  tariff  is  not  at  first  so  high  as  to  be  prohibitory 
but  is  only  gradually  increased  each  yr  as  the  productive  power 
of  each  industry  is  capable  of  supplying  the  home  market;  this 
policy  is  strictly  adhered  to  till  every  profitable  industry  produces- 
or  manufactures  sufficient  to  supply  the  country's  wants;  this  is 
not  accomplished  for  many  yrs  as  the  inhabitants,  or  at  least  a- 
portion  of  them  grow  wealthier;  they  indulge  in  costlier  jewelry, 
furniture,  dress  and  in  fact  everything  they  use  and  possess,  on 
all  these  the  protectionist  imposes  a  duty,  that  is  on  all  that  can 
be  manufactured  with  profit  in  the  country  and  by  so  doing  hastens 
the  development  of  the  industries  of  the  country  and  at  the  same 
timj  derives  a  revenue  sufficiently  large  to  construct  all  the  nec- 
essary puolic  works;  the  moment  of  course  that  the  home  indus- 
tries wholly  supply  the  home  market  the  government's  revenue 
from  the  tariff  is  nil  and  the  nation  enters  upon  the  3d  period  of 
her  existence;  her  statesmen  have  now  to  satisfy  themselves  whe- 
ther her  manufacturers  can  compete  successfully  without  the  tar- 


220  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

•■*'■■ 

iff's  aid  with  the  industries  of  the  adjoining  countries;  if  her 
neighbors  are  less  wealthy  and  powerful  she  of  necessity  will 
have  to  continue  protecting  her  industries  until  she  can  per- 
suade her  neighbors  to  adopt  free  trade;  if  however  her  neighbors 
are  about  her  equal  in  development  and  wealth  free  trade  is  the 
most  advantageous  policy  for  all  parties,  but  with  nations  situated 
as  the  United  States  was  40  yrs  ago  and  as  Canada  is.  to-day  free 
trade  meant  that  their  inland  prosperity  should  he  sacrificed  for 
the  trivial  advantage  of  getting  a  greater  amount  of  return  cargoes 
for  their  commercial  navy  by  buying  manufactured  goods  in  for- 
eign countries  instead  of  having  them  manufactured  in  their  own 
towns  and  cities.  No  v  in  the  name  of  reason  and  common  sense 
which  is  of  most  importance  to  Canada  and  the  U.  S  their  inland 
prosperity  or  the  prosperity  of  their  commercial  navy;  surely  the 
prosperity  of  about  5,000,000  sq  m.  of  inland  territory  is  of  more 
importance  than  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  about  10,000  miles  of 
sea  coast  with  a  few  seaports  and  a  few  thousand  seamen;  ships 
and  seapoits  would  not  have  developed  the  U.  S.  as  protection 
has  done  or  induced  the  surplus  population  of  Europe  to  emigrate 
to  it  in  preference  to  other  countries,  or  caused  the  annual  emi- 
gration of  thousands  of  F  Canadians  to  its  thriving  manufacturing 
centers  from  Canada  to  its  New  England  States,  which  are  inferior 
to  Canada  in  soil  and  not  much  superior  in  climate.  It  was  the 
great  stagnation  in  Canada's  labor  market  that  caused  them  to 
do  so  for  naturally  as  a  class  they  have  a  great  aversion  to  emi- 
gration on  account  of  their  devotion  to  their  language,  religion 
and  institutions.  During  the  last  few  years  however  our  govern- 
ment has  adopted  a  national  policy  viz  protection,  which  has  had 
the  beneficial  effect  of  starting  manufactories  and  opening  old 
ones  that  had  been  closed  during  Mackenzie's  suicidal  policy  of 
allowing  American  goods  to  enter  Canada  at  18  per  ct.  ad  val- 
orem while  the  Americans  charged  us  35,  but  his  stubborn  per- 
sistance  in  this  policy  gave  him  and  his  party  an  overwhelming  " 
overthrow  in  the  last  general  elections  by  the  conservatives  who  - 
had  adopted  protection  as  one  of  the  planks  in  their  political 
platform;  since  then  thousands  of  Canadians  are  employed  in 
Canadian  factories  instead  of  being  obliged  to  emigrate  to  the  U.  S. 
with  England  I  acknowledge  it  was  totally  different,  when  she 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  221 

first  began  to  advocate  free  trade,  there  was  no  other  nation  then 
in  existence  that  could  compote  with  her  industries,  she  had 
then,  as  now  the  greatest  fleet  in  the  world,  that  could  land  her 
exports  in  colonial  and  foreign  ports  cheaper  than  the  goods 
could  be  manufactured  by  the  undeveloped  industries  of  those 
countries;  it  was  therefore  to  her  advantage  to  persuade  all  her 
less  powerful  neighbors  to  adopt  free  trade;  the  keen  and  sagac- 
ious Yankees  however  were  about  the  first  to  perceive  that  Eng- 
land, by  carrying  out  this  policy  would  be  able  to  keep  most  of 
her  surplus  population  at  home,  in  her  manufacturing  towns, 
and  retard  the  development  of  U.  S.  industries  by  crowding  her 
markets  with  cheap  goods,  they  also  saw  that  protection  was 
the  only  means  of  preventing  this  unfavorable  state  of  affairs, 
and  adopted  it  with  the  present  grand  result.  The  best  policy 
for  the  U,  S  tc-day  would  be.  to  maintain  a  tariff  equal  to  that 
which  all  other  nations  levied  against  her  goods,  but  as  a  matter 
of  course  adopt  free  trade  if  possible,  with  such  countries  as 
Japan  Chin?.,  the  South  American  Republics  and  Brazil  etc,  and 
sell  as  much  goods  as  possible  to  them  before  they  devolope  their 
own  industries,  but  the  moment  they  begin  to  tax  American 
goods,  to  retaliate  by  taxing  theirs.  When  all  the  civilized 
nations  have  through  the  beneficial  means  of  protection,  caused 
each  nation  to  be  self  sustaining  by  manufacturing  all  that  is 
possible  in  each  of  their  own  countries,  the  tariffs  can  then  be 
removed  as  useless,  but  kept  in  readiness  in  case  the  industries 
of  the  country  commenced  to  languish  or  be  crushed  by  those 
,  of  other  countries,  for  all  men  who  have  studied  the  ques- 
tion must  acknowlege  that  it  is  wiser,  juster  and  more  advanta- 
geous that  each  nation  should  manufacture  everything  for  itself 
that  can  be  profitably  produced  in  the  country.  Why  should 
England  manufacture  all  the  cutlery  of  the  world,  and  possess  the 
sole  advantage  of  that  mdustry?  why  should  the  U.S.  not  man- 
ufacture her  own  when  she  has  all  the  necessary  materials  at  home; 
if  England  alone  possessed  the  only  coal  and  iron  mines  in  the 
world,  then  it  would  be  more  natural  for  her  to  do  all  the  manu- 
facturing for  iron  manufactures.  Of  course  in  all  natural  and 
artificial  products  there  are  some  articles  that  a  nation  cannot 
produce  or  manufacture  with  profit,  such  articles  as  a  matter  of 


222  HISTORY  OF  THE  FREN'CH  IN  AMERICA. 

course  the  nations  should  not  tax  each  other,  for  It  would  be 
very  foolish  indeed  for  them  to  tax  these  imports,  making  them 
unnecessarily  dearer  for  the  nation's  inhabitants  when  no  earthly 
good  could  be  gained  by  it,  as  from  natural  causes  the  nation 
would  never  be  able  to  manufacture  or  produce  these  articles 
with  profit.  There  is  also  another  feature  to  be  noticed,  that  is 
in  cases  where  one  of  the  products  of  a  nation  is  in  danger  of 
becoming  exhausted,  for  instance,  if  the  United  States  or  Canada 
became  alaimed  at  the  rapidity  which  their  forests  were  being 
cut  down,  their  government  would  have  a  perfect  right  to  im- 
pose a  prohibitory  tariff  on  all  the  lumber  exported  to  European 
countries,  and  even  pass  a  law  allowing  no  one  of  its  citizens 
to  cut  down  a  tree  without  planting  a  young  one  in  its  place, 
but  of  course  in  such  articles  as  cattle  or  wheat,  no  restrictive 
laws  are  necessary,  as  thcs^  countries  have  an  almost  unlimited 
supply.  In  my  opinion,  in  future  yrs.  protection  will  almost 
universally  be  adopted  by  weaker  nations,  as  a, safeguard  to  pro- 
tect their  manufacturers  and  mechanics  from  the  uneqirfal  com- 
petition they  have  to  maintain  against  those  of  wealthier,  and 
more  powerful  nations;  when  I  say  universally  I' do  not  include 
a;:y  of  those  petty  states  or  nations,  that  can  never  expect  to 
have  sufficient  population  to  make  all  home  industries  profitable 
or  practical,  as  a  matter  of  course  when  the  majority  of  nations 
have  adopted  protection,  it  will  no  longer  be  an  increaser  of  rev- 
enue, but  its  most  valuable  and  important  use,  it  will  always  re- 
tain that  of  being  a  preserver  of  the  balance  of  manufactures  and 
commerce  between  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  as  such,  its 
value  and  efficacy  will  each  yr.  become  more  generally  known, 
till  the  great  majority  of  statesmen  and  politicians  will  have  to 
acknowledge  that  protection  as  a  preserver  of  the  balance  of 
trade  is  as  necessary  at  the  present  day,  as  were  the  wars 
of  the  allied  powers  of  Europe  with  Napoleon  the  Great 
.  to  preserve  the  balance  of  pov/er  in  Europe.  From  an  address 
,  of  the  Irish  Home  League  I  extract  the  following:  "in  1782 
Grattan  and  the  volunteers  won  for  Ireland  glorious  freedom, 
and  laid  it  down  as  an  incontrovertable  truth,  that  no  body  of 
men  on  this  earth  has  the  right  to  make  laws  for  this  kingdom, 
but  the  king,  Lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland;  but  in   1800  Pitt 


JirSTOtiV  OF  THfi  F'ftENCH  IN  AMERICA.  223 

and  Castlcreagh,  by  bribes  and  bayonets  destroyed  the  glorious 
fabric  of  Irish  liberty;  in  l8^l  50,000  armed  men  are  in  Ireland, 
35,000  soldiers  and  15,000  military  police;  public  meetings  have 
been  prohibited  and  di.s[)er.sed;  smce  1S41  Ireland  has  lost 
3.000,000  inhabitants  by  emigration  and  fimine,  till  now  we 
have  on  y  167  inhabitants  to  each  square  mile,  while  Belgium  a 
smiller  and  less  fertile  country  has  439;  the  population  of  male 
voters  in  Gt.  Britain  is  2  to  5  of  the  male  population;  in  Ireland 
only  I  to  5;  in  England  and  Scotland  the  police  are  the  servant* 
of  the  local  representatives,  in  Ireland  they  are  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  central  executive."  Extract  from  a  letter  from  E. 
Howard.  "The  disadvmtaij-s  of  the  law  of  entiil  can  be  seen 
by  the  rapid  manner  in  which  property  accumulates  in  one  family, 
it  is  in  fact  nothing  but  a  remnant  of  the  fjudal  times,  it  is  sim- 
ply iinpossible  that  a  tenant  firmer  can  take  as  much  interest 
in  improving  and  benefiting  the  farm  he  rents  as  the  farmer  who 
owns  his  farm,  this  I  think  is  part  of  the  cause  of  the  thousands 
ofi  hovels  that  disfigure  the  farms  of  Ireland.  Only  two  ways 
exists  fdr'Englan'd  to  pre!>erve  Ireland  as  a  part  of  the  empire, 
first  by  «evere  laws -and  .i' large  military  force,  to  keep  the  op- 
pressiedi people  down  by  physical  force,  but  by  this  means  there 
wouM  f^Jways  be  the  danger  of  an  enraged  Peasantry  determined 
on  feven-ge;  rising  with  one  accord  and  filling  the  land  with  blood 
artd'^muixler,  or  if  the  military  succeeded  in  keeping  the  Peasants 
in 'subjecti'on,  the  Peasants  would  have  to  adopt  the  second  al- 
t©rnative,  that  of  wholesale  emigration  from  their  native  land, 
wh'ich  has  a. ruinous  effect  on  Great  Britain's  strength  and  pros- 
perity,* ifon- every  thousand'  subjects  that  leaves  Great  Britain's 
shores  decreases  the  nation's  greatness  and  increases  the  strength 
of  America,  hastening' the  development  of  the  grand  and  won- 
derful resources  of  a  country  that  will,  in  all  probability,  take 
England's  place  as  the  greatest  power  of  the  earth  ere  another 
half  century  has  elapsed.  The  British  government,  however,  is 
slowly  adopting  the  second  and  best  way  of  preserving  Ireland 
and  uniting  it  in  sympathy  and  nationality  with  England,  that  is 
to  govern  it  with  the  sternest  justice  and  give  all  classes  of  peo- 
ple (by  wise  laws)  the  opportunity  of  becoming  patriotic  and 
prosperous  citizens.      When   this    is   done   it   should   bring   to 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

speedy  justice  and  punishment  all  those  who  by  contempt  and 
intrigue  are  enemies  to  the  laws  of  our  great  Empire.  Some 
of  the  ultra  landlord  party  in  Ireland  appear  to  think  that  they 
have  been  treated  rather  severely;  they  should  resiicml.er,  how- 
ever that  danj^orous  diseases  require  desperate  remedies.  Let 
us  hope,  however,  that  when  the  Irish  begin  to  feel  the  benefits 
of  the  wise  and  lenient  laws  that  are  being  made  for  them  that 
they  will  not  be  unreasonable  or  unjust,  but  become  industrious 
and  patriotic  citizens.  If  they  do  not  and  think  they  can  force 
England  to  give  up  what  she  has  possessed  hundreds  of  years 
and  acquired  no  more  unjustly  than  half  the  territories  now 
possessed  by  the  christian  nations  of  the  world,  they  will  dis- 
cover their  mistake  as  the  years  roll  on  and  that  the  sons  of 
England  would  not  permit  even  Gladstone  to  give  away  what 
our  ancestors  fought  and  died  for  and  for  which  England  would 
face  the  whole  of  Europe  to  morrow  if  they  dared  to  interfere  or 
dictate  to  us.  The  British  government  should,  however,  en- 
courage the  reclamation  of  every  foot  of  waste  land  and  awake  to 
the  reality  that  it  can  never  be  as  great  a  country  with  a  few 
hundred  millionaires  and  millions  of  beggars  as  it  can  with  less 
extravagantly  rich  land  holders  and  a  more  fair  distribution  of 
land  among  all  classes  of  its  people.  Great  Britain  is  capable  of 
sustaining  several  million  more  population  than  it  at  present  con- 
tains; therefore  the  English  government  should  adopt  every 
means  in  its  power  to  make  the  country  sustain  as  great  a  popu- 
lation as  possible,  for  one  happy  and  contented  subject  in  Great 
Britain  close  to  the  seat  of  power  is  worth  five  subjects  in  the  ^ 
colonies.  Yet  at  the  same  time  it  should  not  show  an  apparent 
indifference  to  the  colonies,  but  take  in  hand  the  management  of 
all  the  foreign  policies  of  the  colonies,  allowing  them  to  send  a 
certain  amount  of  representatives  to  London,  a  city  by  no  means 
unworthy  to  be  the  capital  of  the  greatest  empire  that  has  ever 
existed.  Doing  away  with  the  volunteer  system  in  the  colonies 
and  replacing  them  with  regular  British  troops  who  would  not 
sympathize  with  the  colonists  in  event  of  rebellion,  and  have 
colonial  troops  distributed  in  Great  Britain,  the  heart  of  the  em 
pire,  and  Australian  and  Canadian  troops  in  India  where  there 
would  be   no  danger  of  their  sympathizing  with  the  Hindoos. 


niSTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  225 

And  Hindoos  and  Mohaninidans  would  make  good  soldiers  for 
Ireland  and  Great  Hntain,  as  ihey  would  be  less  likely  to  sym- 
pathize wilh  the  people  in  event  of  riot  or  rebellion.  It  cannot 
be  that  British  statesmen  have  not  noticed  the  dangerous  spirit 
of  independence  exhibited  by  Canadian  politicians  of  late  years, 
which  is  caused  by  Kngland's  unwise  colonial  policy — a  policy 
that  directly  encourages  the  colonies  to  become  full  fl.'dged 
nations  instead  of  forming  one  grand  united  empire  with  liie 
mother  country.  It  is  quite  time  that  English  statesmen  should 
awake  to  the  reality  that  the  loss  of  Canada,  India  and  Australia 
would  be  the  deatli  blow  to  the  earnest  hope  of  every  patriotic 
Euglishinaii,  that  is  that  the  British  empire  should  continue  to 
be  tlie  grandest  power  upon  this  earth  for  centuries  yet  to  come, 
which  she  cannot  be  in  event  of  the  loss  of  her  colonies  and  even 
less  than  that.  England  by  herself  in  future  years  could  only 
exist  as  one  of  the  sjcond  rate  powers  of  the  earth.  When  her 
stupid  king  lost  th:  United  States  she  lost  one  of  the  brightest 
gems  of  her  empire's  crown.  A  country  of  3^  million  square 
miles  in  extent,  with  a  climate  unsurpassed  for  ihe  production  of 
every  kind  of  grain,  fruit  and  vegetable  required  to  gratify  the 
wants  of  the  most  luxurious  and  fastidious;  a  country  with  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  navigable  rivers;  a  country  now  con- 
taining 50,000,000  intelligent,  industrious  and  energetic  inhabi- 
tants who  are  perfectly  acquainted  with  its  wonderful  natural 
resources,  and  are  yearly  adopting  the  best  and  wisest  means  for 
their  development.  Under  these  circumstances  and  knowing  the 
^  effjct  that  the  example  and  success  of  the  U.  S.  will  have  upon 
India,  Austrilia  and  Canada,  should  not  the  English  government 
use  the  greatest  wisdom  in  its  colonial  policy,  seeing  that  the 
separation  ofthisgre.it  empire  by  the  vast  oceans  will  be  always 
a  source  of  weakness,  and  that  nothing  but  a  mutual  spirit  of 
patriotism  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country,  and  the 
wisest  of  legislation  can  keep  united  the  grandest  and  mightiest 
empire  that  ever  existed."  1  went  to  Leamington  on  a  visit  to 
Clifford;  next  day  went  to  church  at  Marsdon;  had  a  conversa- 
tion with  Mr.  C.,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  synod;  said 
he  had  brought  before  that  body  a  motion  to  have  the  posting 
of  secular  notices  on  their  churches  prohibited,  as  he  thought  it 

i  29 


226  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENXH  IN  AMERICA. 

was  sacrilegious;  also  said  that  a  steeple  to  their  little  chapel 
would  be  an  improvement.  Clifford  supposed  they  would  put  it 
on  the  end  facing  the  road,  which  Mr.  T.  said  would  not  be 
orthodox.  Read  in  some  of  J.  Carlyle's  works,  one  of  the  great- 
,  est  writers  of  the  present  day;  a  history  he  wrote  of  Frederic  the 
Great  is  used  as  a  text  book  in  the  schools  of  Germany.  Visited 
some  sugar  bushes  with  Clifford;  many  of  them  resemble  parks 
and  have  comfortable  sugar  shanties,  with  the  lately  invented  ap- 
pliance called  "evaporating  pans."  The  sap  is  let  into  the  pan 
from  tanks  by  turning  a  tap,  the  pan  is  divided  into  compart- 
ments and  placed  on  brickwork,  one  end  considerably  higher 
than  the  other,  the  sap  enters  the  highest  and  comes  out  in  syrup; 
have  visited  several  picturesque  ravines  heavily  wooded  averag- 
ing about  1 50  below  the  surrounding  country  with  foaming  streams 
in  them,  have  also  went  out  boating  and  duck  shooting.  Clifford 
and  I  tried  to  make  a  geneological  tree  but  got  somewhat  con- 
fused in  arranging  the  different  Aryan,  Semetic  and  Inrainan 
branches  of  the  human  race.  Uncle  Richard  camefiom  Montreal, 
visited  a  neighbor  of  Clifford's  with  him  who  is  sick,  he  has  been 
6oyrs  on  his  farm  which  altho  once  good  land  is  utterly  exhausted; 
Cliftord  has  rented  30  acres  of  meadow  for  ^45,  which  I  consider 
too  much  considering  its  quality;  made  a  collection  of  specimens 
of  forest  wood  for  uncle,  he  left  in  the  evening;  Cliftord  and  I 
have  boxed  considerably  of  late  with  boxing  gloves.  Rev.  Morely 
Punchon  the  great  Methodist  preacher  is  dead;  have  been  read- 
ing some  of  Edgar  Poe's  poems  of  late,  a  pity  that  such  a  great 
genius  should  have  not  met  with  better  success;  one  entitled  the 
Raven  is  very  beautiful;  had  an  argument  with  Clifford  saying 
how  science  now  clashed  with  sacred  history  and  that  from  the 
the  formation  of  the  different  stratas  of  the  earth  it  was  clearly 
proved  by  scientific  men  that  the  world  was  never  created  in  6  days, 
he  said  he  had  heard  religious  apologists  affirm  that  6  days  meant 
6  periods  of  time  and  not  6  dayS;  told  him  that  I  considered  that 
a  mere  eqivocation  for  the  commandment  given  to  Moses  clearly 
said  "for  in  6  days  God  made  heaven  and  earth  the  sea  and  all 
that  IS  therein  and  rested  on  the  7th  day,  therefore  thou  nor  thy 
servant  shall  do  no  manner  of  work,  &c;"  now  if  6  days  meant 
long  periods  of  time  how  could  man  abstain  thousands  of  years 


'      HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  22/ 

from  work  when  he  rarely  lives  to  be  80;  read  a  book  by  Prof. 
Dawson  entitled  "the  origin  of  man,"  it  is  in  harmony  with  sacred 
history,  he  is  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in  America.  There  is 
a  great  temperance  movement  amongst  the  Catholic  clergy  of  this 
diocese  and  I  am  sure  it  was  greatly  needed.  Extract  from  letter 
from  Clifford  dated  April  ist.  "  I'he  river  here  is  clear  of  ice,  the 
grass  is  quite  green  already."  Extract  from  letter  from  Edmund: 
*•  The  commercial  and  manufacturing  prosperity  of  Ulster  are 
partly  the  result  of  its  linen  trade  which  was  not  interfered  with 
by  the  British  government  while  the  woolen  and  other  manufac- 
tures in  the  south  of  Ireland  were  intentionally  destroyed  by  hos- 
tile legislation;  the  rate  of  fire  insurance  in  Belfast  has  for  several 
years  btcn  very  high  owmg  I  believe  to  the  habit  which  some 
Bjlfdst  business  men  have  of  burning  their  buildings  when  busi- 
ness is  bad;  Ulster  men  are  clever  and  energetic  at  business  and 
rather  inclined  to  boast  of  their  success  but  1  do  not  care  for  or 
esteem  them  in  other  respects,  altho  I  have  met  some  agreeable 
exceptions  to  what  I  consider  the  general  standard  of  Ulster  char- 
acter; I  do  not  see  that  :>trong  drink  can  be  any  part  of  the  cause 
why  Ireland  is  behind  Gt,  Britain  commercially  seeing  that  of  the 
2  countries  1  believe  Gt.  Britain  to  be  the  most  drunken,  altho 
both  are  bad  enough  and  I  think  you  will  find  that  from  Brazil  to 
Mexico  the  catholic  countries  are  more  temperate  than  either 
Canada  or  the  U.  S.  although  commercially  less  prosperous;  last 
summer  I  spent  several  pleasant  weeks  in  London  and  saw  and 
heard  many  of  England's  famous  men  in  the  Houses  of  Parliament; 
the  English  have  concluded  peace  with  the  Boers.  Rules  I  have 
adopted  for  daily  observance:  to  rise  every  morning  punctually 
at  5  o'clock,  take  a  bath  and  observe  scrupulous  care  in  my  toilet 
which  increases  man's  health  and  longevity,  devote  }4  an  hour's 
quiet  thought  in  planning  out  how  much  useful  work  and  good 
actions  I  can  accomplish  during  the  day,  to  never  allow  trivial 
incidents  to  prevent  me  from  performing  the  daily  duties  of  my 
life,  that  I  think  the  j4  hour  spent  thus  is  more  pleasing  to  a 
Supreme  Power  than  in  mumbling  monotonous  silly  prayers  to 
God,  the  Saints  and  the  Virgin,  as  the  majority  of  the  nominal 
christians  do  which  must  be  an  abomination  to  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing when  he  knows  that  the  majority  of  these  men  and   women 


'228  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.    '        ' 

maVe  no  determined  effort  to  make  a  proper  use  of  the  gifts  he 
gave  them;  in  all  my  conversation  and  actions  to  avoid  as  much 
as  possible  everything  from  which  no  actual  benefit  can  be  de- 
rived, to  perform  everything  I  undertake  in  as  good  and  short 
time  as  possible,  to  keep  ever  before  me  the  thought  that  every 
minute  I  waste  and  every  useless  word  or  thought  I  indulge  in 
is  a  sin  to  a  Higher  Power,  humanity  andmysell,  never  to  hastily 
utter  a  sentiment  or  perform  an  action  that  1  am  in  doubt  of  its 
worth  until  I  have  submitted  it  to  the  rigid  examination  of  my 
reasoning  powers  and  to  cast  it  away  if  it  meets  the  disapproba- 
tion of  my  reason  and  better  sentiments,  to  earnestly  encourage 
in  myself  and  all  men  an  ardent  love  and  devotion  for  every  time 
that  our  reason  tells  us  is  beautiful,  good  and  henjficial  to  man- 
kind, and  to  cultivate  in  myself  and  others  an  intense  hatred  and 
abhorcnce  for  everything  that  our  reason  clearly  shows  us  is  de- 
trimental to  the  interests  of  humanity  and  to  do  all  in  my  power 
to  remove  from  our  earth  whatever  is  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  the  human  race;  to  always,  on  all  occasions  and  in  all  places, 
denounce  in  as  forcible  and  polite  language  as  possible  whatever 
I  consider  as  wicked  and  foolish,  that  I  will  never  cast  myself 
down  with  a  base  sense  of  defeat  and  shame  in  my  heart  or  cry 
out  that  I  am  a  lost  and  helpless  creature,  for  my  reason  clearly 
shows  me  that  every  man  is  endowed  with  noble  attributes  and 
gifts  in  an  undeveloped  state,  that  if  he  only  makes  a  proper  use 
of  these  he  will  and  can  become  a  noble  and  god  like  being,  that 
I  shall  never  lose  an  opportunity  to  hasten  that  day  when  every 
man  will  be  absolutely,  spiritually  and  politically  free,  when  popes, 
bishops  and  christian  councils  will  no  longer  dictate  to  mankind 
what  they  are  to  believe,  a  day  when  all  men  will  be  taught  that 
a  noble  and  self  reliant  people  making  a  proper  use  of  God's  gifts 
is  more  pleasing  to  him  than  the  degraded  condition  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  present  race  who  are  a  cringing, servile,  superstitious, 
helpless, ignorant  class  of  slaves  under  the  usurped  tyranical  power 
of  hundreds  of  fraudulent  hierarchal  governments,  to  always  keep 
before  me  the  thought  that  no  man  has  ever  been  truly  learned  and 
that  all  men  that  live  can  learn  from  day  to  day  on  this  side  of  the 
grave;  (manuscript  missing).  During  the  latter  part  of  March  cut 
firewood  for  our  own  use,  made  rails  and  drew  manure  to  lot  19 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  .    229 

from  Houdes  place:  ni  the  evening^  studied  gramnitr,  rhetoric, 
Litin  and  French;  fro;n  a  discussioa  I  had  with  father  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  for  Gt.  Britain's  prosperity  and  greatness  to 
have  a  contented,  prosperous  and  patriotic  Peasantry;  the  Eng- 
lish people  will  ere  long  see  the  necessity  of  developing  to  their 
utmost  the  agricultural  resources  of  the  British  i^les,  and  that 
agriculture  is  of  even  greater  importance  than  commerce  or  man- 
ufactures, as  the  latter  has  always  a  certain  amount  of  uncertain- 
ty about  them,  especially  since  the  new  policy  of  protection  has 
come  into  existence,  which  in  my  opinion  has  and  will,  seriously 
affect  England's  export  trade;  in  future  yrs.  when  all  is  colonies 
and  most  of  its  foreign  customers  have  developed  their  manu- 
ficturing  industries  by  protection,  there  also  cannot  be  a  doubt 
that  when  the  U.  S  have  finishtd  developing  their  industries,  that 
it  will  becom^i  a  successful  competitor  with  England  in  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  the  greater  natural  resources  o(  the  U.  S.  will 
then  more  than  counteract  the  advantages  Gt.  Britain  derives 
from  her  more  central  position,  and  the  better  development  of 
many  of  her  industries  to  that  of  the  U.  S.,  besides  it  is  almost 
certain  that  most  of  the  nations  ofthe  earth  will  adopt  protection 
when  they  see  the  beneficial  eftect  it  has  had  and  does  have,  on 
those  nations  that  adopt  it,  for  this  reason  England  should  not 
place  too  much  trust  in  manufactures  as  a  means  of  retaining 
her  surplus  population  at  home;  she  may  for  some  yrs.  more  do 
most  of  the  manufacturing  for  India  and  Africa,  but  even  these 
countries  will  in  a  kw  yrs,  awake  to  the  advantages  derived  from 
manufacturing  for  themselves,  therefore  under  these  circumstan- 
ces it  is  the  height  of  madness  in  the  English  Government  to 
tolerate  landlordism,  under  which  system  Gt.  Britain  can  never 
support  as  large  a  population  as  under  the  freehold  system;  it 
ought  to  do  away  with  all  laws  restricting  the  sale  of  large  estates 
and  their  subdivision  amongst  all  the  children  in  equal  shares, 
also  that  every  man  that  owned  a  large  estate  should  allow  none 
of  it  to  be  kept  in  useless  preserves  for  shooting  game,  and  should 
keep  his  large  estate  in  just  as  useful  a  state  of  productiveness 
as  that  ofthe  small  farmer,  or  in  event  of  his  not  doing  so,  to  be 
obliged  to  sell  the  greater  part  of  it,  in  fact  a  law  should  be  passed 
in  a  country  so  thickly  populated  as  Gt.  Britain  that  would  allow 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

no  man  to  own  over  100  acres;  the  government  should  also  re- 
ward with  large  premiums  all  farmers  who  keep  their  farms  in 
the  highest  state  of  cultivation,  and  fine  all  those  whose  land  is 
in  an  imperfect  state  of  cultivation;  it  should  also  do  all  in  its 
power  to  increase  the  subdivision  of  land,  by  increasing  the  fa- 
cilities for  its  transfer,  and  not  have  the  transfer  of  a  few  acres 
of  land  cost  ;^50  as  it  now  does  in  Gt.  Britain;  manufactures  have 
however  done  a  great  deal  for  Enj^land's  greatness,  it  has  em- 
ployed several  million  of  her  surplus  population,  ahd  is  the 
chief  cause  of  her  maritime  greatness  by  giving  her  commercial 
navy  employment;  when  modern  manufactures  were  in  their  in 
fancy  England  with  her  central  posi'-ion,  enterprising  civilized 
inhabitants  and  wealth,  was  able  to  take  the  lead  in  manufac- 
tures, and  supply  its  colonies  and  foreign  nations  for  many  yrs. 
with  its  manufactured  goods,  and  by  these  advantages  and  start 
it  has  become  the  greatest  commercial  nation  of  the  earth.  As 
to  the  present  strikes  in  the  large  manufacturing  centers  of  Gt. 
Britain,  they  have  been  only  caused  by  a  temporary  com.riercial 
depression  that  has  visited  nearly  every  civilized  country  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  which  has  been  brought  on  by  want  of  thrift 
and  extravngance,  but  to  all  appearance  the  commercial  crisis  is 
quickly  passing  away,  and  again  the  light  of  the  furnace  and  the 
sound  of  the  hammer  will  be  heard  throughout  the  land;  of 
course  it  is  plain  to  all  who  take  an  interest  in  the  subject  that 
England  will  have  to  find  new  markets  for  her  goods  as  the  yrs. 
roll  on,  as  most  of  the  European  nations  and  Englands  colonies 
have  begun  to  manufacture  for  themselves,  but  for  many  yrs.  to 
come  England  will  rank  as  one  of  the  greatest  manufacturing 
powers;  the  superior  quality  of  her  goods  will  enable  her  to  sell 
considerable  quantities  for  many  yrs.  to  those  nations  whose  in- 
dustries are  only  oartially  developed,  besides  this  as  the  millions 
of  inhabitants  of  Asia  become  civilized  they  will  buy  largely  of 
European  manufacturers  and  for  many  yrs.  be  profitable  cus 
tomers  until  they  commence  to  protect  their  own  industries. 
While  spending  an  evening  at  Meredith's  Nicholas  inadvertent- 
ly made  use  of  a  very  vulgar  expression  in  the  presence  cf  his 
mother  and  sisters,  who  censured  him  severely  for  it,  he  of  course 
apologized  and  appeared  greatly  ashamed;  this  comes  from  being 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  23 1 

only  a  gentleman  in  society  and  not  one  at  heart,  alas  how  many 
families  there  are  whose  manners  are  only  for  society,  and  not 
for  every  day  life,  a  gentleman  who  is  not  as  courteous  to  his 
mother  and  sisters,  and  even  to  the  poorest  of  his  lady  acquain- 
tances as  he  is  to  a  duchess  or  princess,  deserves  rather  the  name 
of  a  despicable  hypocrite  than  that  of  a  gentleman.  Several  of 
the  oldest  French  settlers  have  died  on  our  range  this  Winter  and 
Spring;  gave  Joe  Vincent  and  Jim  Spencer  the  "job"  of  making 
several  acres  of  fence  on  Oak  Hill,  ;^i. 50  for  making  new  pick- 
et and  rail  fence  for  an  acre  and  $1,10  for  rebuilding  an  old  pick- 
et and  rail  fence,  all  the  material  of  course  was  drawn  on  the. 
ground  for  them;  while  unloading  some  shingles  that  I  sold  to 
Meredith's  I  discovered  that  Herbert  Carmichael  had  written  a 
lot  of  trash  on  one  of  the  shingles  about  Florence  and  myself; 
I  wrote  underneath:  H.  C.  should  keep  his  witticisms  for  ser- 
vant girls  and  bar  maids  who  would  no  doubt  appreciate  them. 
I  have  decided  if  Uncle  Jerrold  and  Richard  will  not  force  me 
to  sell  Oak  Hill,  to  become  the  best  farmer  in  these  parts  and 
go  to  an  Agricultural  College  a  few  months  every  wmter  and 
study  agricultnre  from  a  theoretical  as  well  as  practical  point  of 
view,  but  if  they  continue  to  dictate  to  us  about  the  best  way  o( 
farming,  which  they  know  less  about  than  myself,  having  never 
had  any  practical  experience,  I  shall  give  them  back  all  they 
have  given  me  and  whatever  I  may  have  earned  myself  and  start 
out  into  the  world  on  my  own  resources;  aunt  and  uncle  are 
becoming  very  devout,  and  have  family  prayers  every  Sunday; 
I  have  noticed  that  even  the  most  wordly  people  turn  their 
thoughts  to  religion  as  old  age  advances  upon  them.  Oh 
inconsistent  religions!  When  will  you  so  educate  your  followers 
that  all  their  lives  will  be  so  beautiful,  noble  and  exalted,  that 
they  will  not  be  filled  with  doubts  and  fears  at  the  approach  of 
death,  but  with  calm  unfaltering  courage  leave  this  battle  field 
of  life,  like  heroes  and  not  like  cowards,  but  what  better  can  we 
expect  when  these  fraudulent  churches  teach  their  dupes  that  to 
eat  a  little  piece  of  bread  and  confess  with  humility  our  sins  to 
a  fellow  man.  is  as  necessary  and  even  more  so  than  a  noble 
life,  for  these  priests  teach  "that  a  man  who  lives  a  noble  and 
exalted  life  is  damned  if  he  refuses  with  scorn  their  prayers  and 


2-32  ^  HISTORY  OF  THE  FREN'CH  IN  AMERICA. 

aid,"  and  yet  believe  that  God  created  all  intelligent  ir.en 
as  responsible  beings,  who  have  to  render  no  one  an 
account  but  himself,  and  that  no  prayers  or  intercessions 
bought  with  gohd  can  better  his  condition,  in  the  great 
and  mysterious  hereafter.  Old  Doherty,  who  is  72  years 
old,  has  married  again  to  a  widow  32  years  old  with  four  children, 
much  to  the  indignation  of  his  two  sons.  Bat  and  Dennis,  who 
fear  they  will  lose  the  property  he  possesses.  Bat  tells  me  he 
sold  j$(Soo  worth  of  produce  off  his  farm  of  75  acres  last  year,  of 
which  $2CO  was  derived  from  honey.  As  uncle  Jerrold  now  as 
well  as  uncle  Richard  insijits  on  my  selling  Oak  Hill  I  have  con- 
sented, but  will  give  up  farming  and  stutly  for  some  profession. 
Part  of  a  conversation  with  father:  The  cause  of  the  low  posi- 
tion that  most  farmers  occupy  in  society  is  the  want  of  a  higher 
system  of  education  amongst  them.  This  defect  is  chiefly 
caused  by  careless  indifference,  and  partly  by  the  occupation 
itself,  which  men  can  follow  with  even  moderate  success  without 
even  a  common  school  education.  But  education  is  necessary 
for  the  profession  of  agriculture,  and  even  if  it  were  not,  farmers 
should  educate  themselves  to  become  gentlemen  if  nothing  else. 
Beaufort  Churchill  has  arrived  and  is  thinking  of  buying  Little- 
ton's place  from  Koussin  for  $2,000;  and  for  cash  he  would  sell 
it  for  several  hundred  less.  It  is  a  valuable  property,  on  the 
edge  of  the  village,  60  acres  in  extent,  10  of  which  are  in  wood- 
land; a  brickyard  on  it;  a  beautiful  large  house  on  it,  with  man- 
sard roof,  galleries,  verandas,  and  surrounded  with  a  grove  of 
stately  trees  with  delightfully  shady  avenues,  and  grounds  taste- 
fully laid  out  in  gravel  walks  and  flowerbeds.  17th  of  May.  I 
will  have  to  make  what  I  can  out  of  Oak  Hill  this  summer.  I  am 
now  living  on  it  while  I  plant  the  spring  crop.  On  the  20,  Tom, 
our  hired  boy  and  myself  planted  20  bushels  of  potatoes,  Joe 
Vincent  and  Jim  Spencer  made  22  acres  of  fence  besides  what  1 
made  myself;  I  objected  to  part  of  the  fence  they  had  made  in 
the  woods  where  the  poles  were  too  far  apart  which  would  allow 
calves  to  get  through,  and  in  other  places  where  they  had  merely 
made  a  "slash  fence"  of  brush  instead  of  poles,  the  former  only 
lasts  one  year  as  the  weight  of  the  snow  crushes  it  down  in  win- 
ter.    I  had  difficulty  in  training  a  young  horse  to  plow  with  one 


.    HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  233 

of  the  old  ones,  but  after  three  days  I  succeeded  and  can  plow 
without  a  driver.  The  Kims.  May  loth.  P.  S.  I  have  sown 
several  acres  in  grass  seed  which  is  very  difficult  to  sow  in 
windy  weather.  We  have  had  only  two  showers  this  spring  and 
are  very  much  in  want  of  rain;  father  and  mother  have  returned 
from  Port  Huron;  Flora  has  had  a  little  son;  in  about  a  fortnight 
D.  V.  1  shall  have  all  my  pressing  work  done;  we  had  a  most 
welcome  rnin  last  night,  like  Kpp's  cocoa,  grateful  and  comfort- 
ing; this  part  of  the  country  is  looking  green  and  pretty  now; 
the  postscript  of  this  letter  is  like  a  school  girls,  almost  as  long 
as  the  letter.  C.  H.  Goldsmith."  While  driving  home  I  was 
surprised  to  see  how  much  the  Aston  end  of  our  range  is 
deserted;  only  one  French  family  in  6  miles  of  country  filled 
with  small  deserted  clearances;  those,  that  left  were  merely  half 
lumberers  and  laborers;  later  on  I  have  no  doubt  a  better  class 
of  settlers  will  settle  on  this  land,  but  not  until  the  splendid  fer- 
tile lands  of  the  great  Northwest  are  settled.  Took  a  ride  across 
the  country  last  Sunday  to  see  some  French  friends;  in  returning 
a  magnificently  grand  thunderstorm  overtook  me;  I  was  nearly 
thrown  from  the  horse  through  a  flash  of  lightning  in  front  of  us 
on  the  road  which  caused  the  horse  to  suddenly  rear  on  its 
hunches;  It  is  quite  natural,  however,  that  a  dumb  beast  should 
be  afraid,  but  I  think  in  man  such  fear  is  absurd.  I  was  much 
amused  at  the  way  the  French  young  ladies  shrieked,  "My  God, 
how  terrible  !"  whenever  there  was  a  crash  of  thunder.  Next  day 
four  French  wometi  came  3  miles  with  some  cows  tliat  I  had 
agreed  to  pasture  for  their  husbands  on  ot  29;  their  conversar 
tion  was  so  disgustingly  low  that  even  I,  unsensitive  being  that  I 
am,  was  filled  with  astonishment  and  contempt  when  I  considered 
that  they  are  regarded  "as  respectable  women  and  devout  mem- 
bers of  an  infallible  church;  had  a  conversation  with  Israel  Du- 
fresne,  his  opinions  are  very  barbarous  as  regards  his  duties  to- 
wards his  children,  upon  my  word  if  a  brute  beast  could  speak 
it  would  describe  its  duties  towards  its  oftsprinp-  a  somewhat  the 
same  manner.  He  said  "I  feed  and  clothe  my  children  and  have 
them  taught  their  catechism  and  prayers,  surely  no  one  can  call 
me  a  bad  father;"  truly  this  is  a  strange  age,  civilization,  liberty, 
virtue  and  education  are  advancing  side  by   side  with  barbarity, 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

immorality,  tyranny,  superstition  and  ignorance;  went  to  a  private 
party  at  Aston  in  company  with  Niciioias,  Florence,  Maud,  Mabel 
W.  Miss  A.  and  Mr.  M.  and  Mr,  C.  (who  are  tryin<;  amateur 
farming  on  Christie's  farm)  in  a  double  carnage;  while  we  young 
gentlemen  were  taking  off  our  overcoats  in  the  gentlemen's  dres- 
sing room  Nicholas  made  a  remark  about  a  lady  acquaintance 
worthy  of  one  of  the  gayest  and  most  unprincipled  courtiers  of 
either  Charles  II.  or  Queen  Isabella's  court;  heaven  knows  I  am 
bad  enough  but  I  have  never  said  nor  ever  will  say  anything 
■  against  a  lady  that  I  would  be  ashamed  to  repeat  in  her  presence; 
whenever  I  associate  with  true  ladies  they  exercise  an  elevating 
influence  on  me  and  I  would  no  more  think  of  uttering  anything 
improper  against  them  or  in  their  presence  than  if  tliey  were  so 
many  angels;  after  much  dancing  and  a  most  enjoyable  time  gen- 
erally and  a  sumptuous  supper  we  returned  home  at  2  in  the 
morning.  Extract  from  a  letter  to  my  cousin  Ethel  Churchill: 
"You  will  no  doubt  be  surprised  to  receive  a  letter  from  me  as  I 
suppose  you  have  forgotten  by  this  time  our  earl/  corres- 
pondence in  childhood;  I  now  write  at  your  brothers  request 
with  the  hope  of  persuading  you  to  come  and  live  witli  hirn  in 
Canada,  he  arrived  here  on  the  29lh  and  since  then  1  have  ben 
showing  him  different  farms  about  the  country,  one  of  which  he 
prefers  to  the  rest  on  account  of  its  being  situated  on  the  edge  of 
Aston  village  which  has  over  2,000  inhabitants  and  is  a  centrally 
situated  and  rising  town  well  connected  by  rly  with  most  of  the 
leading  towns  and  cities  in  the  province  and  has  one  of  the  finest 
markets  in  this  part  of  the  country,  it  has  aiso  a  small  select  circle 
of  society  which  as  a  rule  is  not  met  with  in  rural  tcvv'ns,  I  men- 
tion this  as  with  ladies  this  is  generally  the  first  consideration; 
(gave  an  elaborate  description  of  Lyttleton's  farm)  from  what 
your  brother  tells  me  it  appears  that  he  would  like  to  become  a 
farmer  for  those  that  really  Hke  it  it  is  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
independent  professions  a  man  can  follow;  in  following  most  of 
the  other  professions  and  trades  a  man  is  dependant  on  the  public 
for  his  living  whereas  with  a  farmer  it  is  exactly  opposite;  kings, 
statesmen,  doctors,  lawyers  are  all  dependant  on  the  farmer  for 
their  sustenance,  banks  may  fail,  stocks  become  worthless,  goods 
decrease  in  value,  house  burn  and  ships  sink  but  a  good  farm  can 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  SjJ 

never  be  lost  except  through  the  fault  o{  its  owner;  it  has  ofterk 
been  a  surprise  to  nie  that  farmers  as  a  class  arc  so  much 
infjrior  to  other  professions  or  even  tradesmen  and  me- 
chanics intellectually,  but  I  am  glad  to  say  the  farmers  of 
this  country  are  at  last  beginning  to  see  the  necessity  of 
a  thorough  enducation,  without  which  no  man  can  attain 
to  tliat  position  that  every  man  with  true  ambition  should, 
amongst  his  fellowinen  of  the  present  age.  We  saw  the  owner 
of  the  farm  who  asks  ;^6oo  for  the  place,  a  very  low  price,  but  a 
rather  large  sum  for  your  brother  to  pay,  cash  down.  Your 
brother  thought  that  you  and  your  sister  would  be  kind  enough 
to  lend  him  ;$2,ooo  and  reserve  to  yourselves  the  right  of  first 
mortgage  on  the  place.  In  doing  this  you  would  incur  no  risk, 
and  at  the  same  tiau  have  a  beautiful  hoine  to  live  in  without 
paying  the  enormous  rent  you  are  now  paying  in  Ireland,  and 
you  would  be  able  to  live  at  about  one-half  the  amount  it  now 
costs  you  and  get  6  per  cent,  interest  on  this  safe  investment  of 
your  money.  In  event  of  any  failure  on  your  brother's  part  the 
rigUt  of  first  mortgige  would  secure  to  you  your  money,  but  I 
thmk  that  this  is  scai  :ely  possible  as  my  brother  and  I  com- 
menced under  less  favorable  circumstances  and  have  succeeded 
in  a  most  satisfactory  manner.  Land  in  Canada  is  certain  to 
rise  in  a  few  years,  when  emigration  from  Eastern  Canada  to  the 
great  Northwest  ceases,  which  at  the  present  time  causes  a  great 
many  eastern  farms  to  be  thrown  upon  the  market.  From  a  let- 
ter to  uncle  Richard:  "Mr.  St.  George,  from  whom  I  purchased 
Oak  Hill,  has  written  to  me  saying  thac  if  1  desire  he  will  give 
me  8  years  to  piy  for  the  place  instead  of  4.  I  had  written  to 
him  saying  that  I  did  not  wish  to  dispose  of  the  valuable  hard- 
wood timber  on  the  place  at  the  exceedingly  low  price  it  now 
commands;  also  that  a  longer  term  of  payment  would  enable  me 
to  adopt  a  better  system  of  cultivation  and  feed  the  produce  on 
the  farm  insteiJ  of  selling  it  which  is  certain  in  the  course  of 
time  to  impoverish  the  best  of  land,  I  merely  state  this  to  show 
you  that  I  did  not  make  a  foolish  bargain  in  purchasing  this  val- 
uable and  beautiful  estate  and  that  it  was  easily  within  my  power 
to  pay  for  it;  however,  as  you  and  uncle  Jerrold  have  command- 
ed me  to  sell  it  in  many  of  your  letters,  I  submit  and  will  say  no 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEKICA. 

more  on  the  subject.  I  send  you  an  account  of  my  expenditures 
on  the  place:  F*irst  instalment  on  the  land,  ^100;  to  notary  for 
making  deed,  $5;  for  provisions  for  a  plowing  bee,  $1.50;  for 
snow  plowing  main  road  during  the  winter,  iJ»i.50;  for  nianuie, 
$S  for  35  double  loads;  wire  for  fence,  $1.25;  16  bushels  of  seed 
potatoes,  $7.50;  24  acres  of  fence,  ^21;  29  bushels  of  oats,  ;$  10,50. 
Fortunately  the  late  frosts  did  not  damage  any  of  our  crops  as 
they  were  not  over  ground;  the  orchard  is  heavily  loaded  with 
apples,  but  the  plums  were  destroyed  by  the  frost."  From  a  let- 
to  Clifford:  "On  Oak  Hill  I  have  sown  22  bushels  of  oats,  15 
of  potatoes,  and  am  at  present  preparing  3  acres  for  buckwheat; 
the  rest  of  the  farm  is  in  meadow  ami  pasture.  When  will  the 
Jews,  Christians,  Mohammedans  and  Pagans  stop  their  senseless 
wrangling  about  imaginary  doctrines  and  revelations  and  devote 
more  of  their  time  to  the  more  practical  and  glorious  work  o( 
elevating  the  human  race  and  beautifying  this  earth.  Mr.  Mere- 
dith has  contributed  $iS  towards  painting  the  inside  of  the 
church  afresh  and  I  have  collected  $14  towards  it.  Beaufort  C. 
is  stoppmg  ^ith  us  at  present;  he  seems  a  half  dead  and  half 
alive  sort  of  a  fellow,  with  no  energy  or  ambition;  a  lukewarm 
individual  of  a  somewhat  religious  turn  of  minr';  showed  him  all 
the  sights  of  Aston;  descended  No.  5  shaft  at  the  copj  er  mines, 
300  feet  deep;  the  mine  is  only  partially  worked,  the  four  other 
shafts  are  full  of  water."  Extract  from  a  letter  to  uncle  Jerrold, 
5th  of  June.  "We  received  last  week  the  quarterly  allowance 
that  you  so  generously  send  us;  we  did  not  go  to  Montreal  this 
time  as  we  were  too  busy  at  work  on  our  farm  planting  the 
spring  crops.  This  spring  has  been  very  unfavorable  for  clear- 
ing land  on  account  of  the  wet  weather  in  May;  the  rain,  how- 
ever, has  been  of  benefit  to  the  hay  crop,  which  to  all  appearance 
will  be  very  heavy.  The  fertility  of  the  lowlands  on  Elmbrooke 
is  astonishing,  year  after  year  they  produce  heavy  crops  of  hay 
without  manure.  Most  of  our  clearance  in  Elmbrooke  is  under 
hay  which  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  crops  around  here;  in 
fact  we  are  obliged  to  hay  the  land  the  first  year  it  is  cleared  and 
keep  it  under  hay  and  pasture  until  the  sturiips  have  sufficiently 
decayed  to  have  them  removed,  this  generally  takes  6  or  8  years. 
Although  the  clearance  on  Oak  Hill  is  some  of  the  highest  land 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  237 

in  this  part  of  the  country  and  has  not  been  manured  for  many 
years  the  crops  are  in  excellent  condition.  We  have  taken  a 
great  many  animals  to  pasture  as  it  is  one  of  the  best  and  cheap- 
est means  of  enriching  an  impoverished  soil.  Have  visited  Clif- 
ford since  dear  Richard's  death;  he,  poor  fellow,  appears  very 
lonesome  as  Richard  was  his  inseparable  companion  for  the  last 
few  years  after  his  health  began  to  fail.."  Montreal,  17th  June. 
"Dear  Arthur,  your  uncle  Jerrold  still  insists  on  your  selling 
Oak  Hill,  in  this  I  think  he  shows  his  foresight  and  profound 
judgment.  The  crops  will  have  to  pay  you  for  whatever  you 
have  spent  on  the  place,  you  have  no  further  interest  in  the  lot 
so  ce.'  se  bothering  about  it."  While  at  G's  my  aunt  quizzed  me 
about  Florence  and  Maud;  I  grew  indignant  and  told  her  I  did 
not  see  anything  ridiculous  in  my  preferring  the  company  of  re- 
fined and  amiable  young  ladies  to  that  of  vulgar,  ignorant  coun- 
try girls.  Andre  La  Rivere  had  a  bee;  15  men  v/ere  at  it;  in 
the  evening  played  cards,  sang  songs,  etc.;  there  was  not  enough 
of  the  fair  sex  present  to  have  a  dance.  A  few  rules  I  have  add- 
ed to  those  already  mentioned:  **Never  put  off  till  to-morrow 
what  I  can  do  to-day;"  "To  be  affable  and  courteous  to  all  men 
and  try  to  be  agreeable  and  good  company  to  all  classes  of  peo- 
ple; Devote  from  7  to  10  each  evening  to  literature;  Never  to 
spend  $2  where  $1  is  sufficient;  To  cultivate  the  habit  in  reading 
of  skipping  whatever  is  uninstructive  and  useless  by  which  I 
shall  be  able  to  accomplish  5  times  as  much  good  reading;  To 
avoid  all  ostentatious  display  in  dress  or  otherwise  which  is  a 
sure  sign  of  a  weak  and  vulgar  mind;  To  always  keep  alive 
within  me  an  earnest  and  honorable  ambition  to  accomolisii  all 
I  can  for  myself  and  the  age  I  live  in."  June  15th;  part  of  a 
btter  to  Uncle  Richard:  "We  are  at  present  sowing  buckwheat; 
the  weather  has  been  very  warm  of  late,  without  any  rain,  which 
if  it  continues  will  seriously  damage  the  hay  and  grain  crops  on 
high  lands."  Extract  from  a  letter  from  Clifford:  "Very  few 
people  believe  that  war  can  be  abolished;  it  is  just  as  impossible 
to  abolish  the  war  of  nations  as  that  of  individuals,  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  us  to  change  human  nature.  When  a  nation's  govern- 
ment or  king  becomes  enraged  against  another  whom  they  think 
they  can  beat,  then  they  will  have  war  and  no  treaties  can  pre- 


238  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

vent  thefn.  You  can  no  more  stop  war  than  you  can  stop  mur- 
der. In  ancient  times  their  weapons  were  so  clumsy  that  com- 
paratively fjw  were  killed,  but  now  they  kill  many  in  a  shurt 
time,  I  think  we  shall  have  war  until  the  time  of  the  millemum. 
The  only  way  to  prevent  war  that  I  can  think  of  is  for  some  one 
to  invent  a  weapon  so  deadly  that  one  man  armed  with  it  would 
be  equal  for  a  million  similiary  armed.  This  would  put  a  stop 
to  it  as  it  would  be  sure  death  to  all  parties  engaj^ed."  Jn  answer 
lo  the  above:  **I  cannot  a|»ree  with  you  that  it  is  as  easy  to 
abolish  the  war  of  nations  as  that  of  individuals.  For  a  govern- 
ment that  governs  with  wisdom  and  justice  can  easily  pre- 
vent insurrections  and  rebellions  amongst  the  people 
it  rules  but  could  not  prevent  the  individual  crime  of  murder  or 
entirely  suppre:  s  it;  1  think  it  is  absurd  for  you  to  imagine 
that  it  would  be  as  difficult  to  persuade  the  Christian  govc  'i- 
ments  of  the  world  to  abolish  war,  as  to  persuade  all  men  to 
cease  from  murder,  for  in  the  first  case  we  have  only  a  few  thous- 
and intelligent  men  to  convince,  who  as  a  rule  strive  to  make 
laws  for  their  country's  good;  whereas  in  the  latter  case  millions 
of  ignorant  and  wicked  men  would  have  to  be  reformed;  I  still 
maintain  that  if  4  nations  like  England,  TVance,  Germany  and 
the  United  States,  formed  a  treaty  between  each  other  to  settle 
all  further  disputes  by  arbitration,  and  do  away  with  the  awful 
expense  of  their  armies,  that  no  power  on  earth  could  dare  attack 
them  even  though  they  did  not  have  a  single  soldier;  the  mil- 
lenium  arguments  are  simply  ridiculous,  the  idea!  Civilized 
men  forsooth,  must  continue  murdering  each  other  for  the  sake 
of  fulfilling  some  ancient  prophecy,  this  is  as  bad  as  the 
scriptural  defense  of  slavery,  "a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  (the 
Negro)  be."  1  feel  confident  that  long  before  that  long  expect- 
ed Christian  period  arrives,  the  more  civilized  portions  of  our 
earth  will  have  abolished  this  cruel  relic  of  barbarism.  Uncle 
Tom  of  Waterford  writes.  "Beaufort's  father's  family  are  all  ex 
tremely  delicate,  and  Beaufort  himself  is  too  weak  to  stand  hard 
work,  besides  nearly  all  his  money  would  be  taken  up  in  pur- 
chasing the  place,  and  Beaufort  could  never  direct  even  the 
hired  men;  it  appears  to  me  ridiculous.that  he  should  own  a  farm 
let  alone  manage  one;  if  Beaufort  was  a  man  likely  to  put   his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  239 

shoulder  to  work  and  stick  to  it,  I  shoukl  be  glad  to  see  him 
settle  down  near  you  "  From  Uncle  Jerrold;  "at  least  half  of 
the  pr()[)erty  in  Gt.  Britain  is  "held  in  tiust,"and  a  man  who  vio- 
lates this  trust  is  liable  to  penal  serviiude;  I  have  bought  O.ik 
II ill  from  you  and  will  hold  it  in  trust  f(jr  you;  your  Uncle 
Peter's  family  have  very  little  more  allowed  them  than  you,  and 
they  have  not  only  saved  money  but  have  most  nobly,  like  fine 
hardvvorkinjx  independent  souls,  written  to  s.iy  tiiat  they  only 
require  for  the  present  ^^"3  a  month;  in  another  case  where  1  have 
been  making  an  allowance  to  one  of  my  f.imily  he  has  with  the 
manly  spirit  of  the  Goldsmith  family,  which  has  ever  distinguished 
our  name  as  hard  workers  and  self-reliant,  with  perhaps  one 
exception,  sent  me  back  the  whole  of  the  yrs.  allowance,  and  3 
pairs  of  bracelets,  of  diamonds,  pearls  and  emeralds,  with  2  em- 
erald rings  for  your  Aunt  Mary,  in  acknowledgment  for  her 
kindness  to  him  while  in  London;  I  do  not  say  this  by  way  of 
hinting  at  any  return;  my  only  and  greatest  reward  will  be  to 
see  that  what  I  do  now  for  those  I  love  will  I.e  of  use ,  and  jjlace 
the  dear  ones,  my  own  good  relations  and  the  children  of  my 
darling  sister  in  a  free  and  independent  position;  you  can  redeem 
Oak  Hill  later  on  if  you  wish,  by  paying  me  6  per  ct.  interest  on 
what  1  pay  Mr.  St.  George."  This  is  one  of  the  many  letters 
that  Uncle  JerroM  has  written  to  me  saying  that  I  could  keep 
the  place,  but  Uncle  Richard  is  determined  that  I  shall  not  keep 
it,  because  I  did  not  ask  his  consent,  and  he  thinks  he  knows 
best,  although  I  have  given  him  practical  proofs  that  it  is  one  of 
the  cheapest  and  most  beautiful  farms  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
in  fact  parts  of  both  their  letters  to  us  of  late  have  been  extreme- 
ly hurtful  to  my  feelings;  he  and  Uncle  Richard  well  know  that 
Tom  and  I  have  worked  like  slaves  and  even  deprived  ourselves 
of  the  common  neccessaries  of  life,  to  make  our  efforts  at  bush 
farming  a  success,  and  yet  they  sometimes  write  to  us  as  if  we 
were  idle  and  extravagant,  for  my  part  I  will  not  stand  it  much 
longer.  Extract  from  a  letter  from  Uncle  Jerrold:  'T  protest 
against  Arthur's  acting  contrar}'  to  your  Uncle  Richard's  wishes 
in  keeping  that  lot,  and  have  written  to  your  uncle  to  the  same 
affect,  once  more  for  all  I  repeat  to  you  again  and  for  the  last 
time,  as  I  hope  it  may   not  be   neccessary  again,  you  must   be 


240  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

solely  guided  by  what  your  Uncle  Richard  says  in  all  your  trans- 
actions, you  may  remember  in  my  letters  to  my  dearest  sister, 
your  good  mother,  I  wished  to  let  her  see  that  the  annuity  of 
;{^iOOa  yr.  was  right,  as  I  knew  she  always  felt  a  reluctance  to 
incur  obligations  to  any  one,  but  in  her  last  letter  to  me  she  an- 
nulled and  repudiated  this  by  saying,  she  only  accepted  my  gifts 
as  a  token  of  my  brotherly  affection,  and  added,  that  so  far  as 
her  whole  life  went,  that  it  was  she  who  was  indebted  to  me,  at 
the  same  time  it  is  but  fair  to  tell  you,  that  in  event  of  my  death 
I  had  provided  absolutely  for  the  payments,  although  as  the  case 
stands  1  have  not  executed  any  deed  or  stamped  document,  so 
that  as  matters  stand  at  present  my  income  to  you  is  not  com- 
pulsory, and  depends  on  your  acting  with  that  care  and  prudence 
for  which  1  have  hitherto  esteemed  you,  God  forbid  that  anything 
should  arise  to  prevent  me  from  performing  towards  you  what  1 
consider  as  my  sacred  duty  and  promise,  and  which  it  would  pain 
my  heart  to  discontinue,  and  which  please  God  I  shall  never  do; 
do  oot  take  this  m  anger,  or  as  a  threat,  it  is  only  intended  in 
kindness  and  love;  you  will  be  glad  I  know  that  your  cousin 
has  passed  his  examination  at  Oxford;  we  have  had  all  day  and 
all  night  the  most  violent  thunder  storm  I  have  ever  seen  in  Eng- 
land, the  great  downfall  of  rain  has  done  good  to  the  land;  f  hope 
you  will  soon  be  able  to  make  a  little  money  out  of  your  land; 
it  looks  odd  to  us  in  England  where  we  pay  heavy  rents  and 
awful  taxes  and  yet  save  money;  told  Uncle  Richard  that  the 
fact  of  so  many  farms  being  to  let  is  greatly  exaggerated,  as  he 
would  find  very  soon  if  he  came  here  to  buy  or  rent  one;  for  the 
land  Arthur  has  bought  I  shall  pay  for,  deducting  6  per  ct.  in- 
terest from  your  annuity,  and  so  save  any  expense.'  "July  loth. 
Dear  uncle;  I  received  your  letter  a  few  weeks  ago,  but 
waited  till  Uncle  Richard  came  out  and  arranged  about 
the  lot.  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  generous  offer  to  pay  for 
Oak  Hill  and  give  me  time  to  pay  for  it  at  six  per  cent, 
which  offer  I  would  have  accepted  had  not  uncle  Richard  pes  - 
tively  forbid  me  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  lot  after  th  s 
fall  after  I  have  taken  the  crops  off  of  it  and  he  has  repaid  to  me 
the  ;$ioo  I  paid  to  Mr.  St.  George  on  account.  The  potatoes  are 
in  fine  condition  and  the  Colorago  beetles  are  kept  from  doi.ig 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  24I 

damage  by  applying  Paris  green  and  London  purple  to  the  leaves 
with  a  watering  pot;  the  hay  crop  I  am  sorry  to  say  is  much  in- 
ferior to  last  yr.  about  ^  less;  as  regards  running  into  debt  you 
say  truly  that  it  Is  the  source  of  rum  to  thousands,  that  is  to  those 
who  become  debtors  thro  reckless  extravagance;  with  us  how- 
ever it  was  entirely  different,  I  went  into  debt  for  Oak  Hill  it  is 
true,  but  it  was  one  of  the  cheapest  bargains  I  have  seen  for  many 
yrs.  in  this  part  of  the  country;  I  did  it  with  the  best  of  inten-. 
tions  to  have  an  estate  that  I  would  be  proud  of  when  you  came 
to  see  us;  I  had  decided  to  throw  my  whole  energies  into  farm- 
ing and  make  it  a  success;  such  a  debt  as  the  one  I  incurred  I 
am  proud  of  and  if  no  farmer  were  allowed  to  incur  such  debts  as 
tlijse  few  of  them  could  rise  above  the  position  of  market  gar- 
deners and  laborers.  It  is  true  we  have  400  acres  besides  Oak 
Hill  but  it  would  cost  us  more  to  clear  loo  acres  of  it  than  thv> 
whole  200  acres  of  lot  29  with  100  acres  cleared  on  it  free  from 
stumps;  I  cannot  tell  you  how  my  uncle's  persistent  refusal  to 
allow  me  to  keep  this  beautiful  farm  has  dampened  my  hopes  and 
hurt  my  feelings  but  I  have  had  to  submit  altho  I  could  have 
paid  for  the  farm  easily  from  its  own  resources  alone  in  the  8yrSi 
I  had  to  pay  it."  "Elmbrooke  June  22,  dear  uncle  Richard,  I. 
of  course  will  have  to  submit  to  your  decision  about  Oak  Hill' 
but  at  the  same  time  I  would  respectfully  remind  you  that  what 
you  call  unwise  land  and  property  speculation  has  been  the  very 
means  by  ^'hich  you  have  amassed  the  greatest  part  of  your 
present  fortune;  I  will  as  you  say  devote  a  little  more  time  to 
mental  culture  without  which  not  even  the  man  most  perfectly 
endowed  with  physical  gifts  can  ever  expect  to  rise  much  higher- 
than  a  common  laborer;  the  progress  of  the  man  now-a-days  that 
depends  on  physical  labor  alone  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth 
as  compared  with  the  man  that  uses  his  brains  is  as  the  progress 
of  the  carrier  pigeons  of  former  days  compared  with  the  electric 
telegraph  of  the  present  day;  a  man  at  best  working  every  day 
for  50  yrs  could  only  accumulate  by  rigid  economy  and  high  pay 
about  ^15,000,  which  is  but  a  trifle  as  compared  with  the  vast 
fortunes  amassed  in  a  few  yrs  by  men  who  use  their  brains  as 
well  as  their  hands;  with  but  few  exceptions  most  men  to  meet 
with  more  than  ordinary  success  in  life  must  have  a  good  educa- 

i  31 


242  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

tion,  it  is  the  most  necessary  of  all  things  before  a  young  man 
devotes  all  his  energies  t<D  any  other  particular  object.  Uncle 
Jerrold  speaks  about  our  having  so  much  hired  labor  but  you 
well  know  that  I  and  Tom  with  one  boy  cannot  save  70  acres  of 
hay  alone.  In  earthing  up  our  potatoes  we  used  the  cultivator 
you  gave  Uncle  Herbert  and  found  that  it  w?.s  a  great  economizer 
of  labor,  we  have  also  -put  floors  in  the  mows  of  the  new  barn. 
4th  July,  since  last  I  wrote  in  these  pages  I  have  been  in  one  con- 
tinued round  of  business,  pleasure  and  hard  manual  labor;  I  have 
taken  3'horses  and  11  cows  to  pasture  and  had  some  lively  elec- 
tioneering to  keep  our  school  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
R.  C's,  have  struck  a  rate  of  2^  mills  on  the  dissentient  prop- 
erty and  decided  to  keep  the  school  open  4  months  in  some  cen- 
tral place  in  the  parish;  have  been  many  times  at  Meredith's 
during  the  spring  and  early  summer,  they  have  had  a  great  many 
visitors  as  much  as  14  staying  at  their  house  at  one  time.  Re- 
ceived an  introduction  to  Mr.  B.  brother  to  Miss  Brown  of  Tor- 
onto of  happy  memory,  whom  I  shall  never  forget,  what  with 
evenings  at  cards,  rides  and  drives  thro  the  country,  picnics,  cro- 
quet, lawn  tennis,  and  conversaziones,we  all  had  a  most  delightful 
time.  Mr.  M.  had  a  severe  accident,  nearly  broke  his  arm  and 
received  many  bruises  by  falling  thro  the  floor  of  a  chemical 
works  at  Montreal,  he  is  a  chemist  as  well  as  a  mineralogist  and 
has  been  making  several  experiments  lately.  President  Garfield 
has  nearly  lost  his  life  by  the  hand  of  Charles  Guiteau,  either  a 
lunatic  or  villain,  has  shot  him  in  the  groin,  the  ball  has  not  yet 
been  extracted;  a  new  invention  is  to  be  tested  by  which  the  doc- 
tors expect  to  be  able  to  locate  the  exact  position  of  the  ball 
without  probing  the  wound.  Wrote  to  Mr.  Blair,  secretary  of 
McGill  College,  to  send  me  a  prospectus  of  the  College,  as  I  have 
decided  to  go  to  college;  study  for  some  profession  and  give  up 
farming,  in  which  I  say  to  a  person  who  has  capital  and  respect- 
able neighbors  farming  is  an  independent  and  honorable  profes- 
sion but  this  is  not  the  case  with  those  who  have  no  capital  and 
are  obliged  to  live  amongst  a  vulgar  community.  "Montreal,  my 
dear  Mr.  Howard,  we  were  all  indeed  deeply  grieved  when  your 
mother  was  called  to  be  with  Jesus  and  I  well  understand  how 
truly  you  miss  both  her  affection  and  wise  counsel,  but  you  have 


> 


HISTORY  or  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA^  245 

one  to  go  to  all  the  day  long  who  is  n>ore  than  a  mother  to  those 
who  really  trust  and  seek  his  counsel,  and  I  trust  you  will  look 
to  him  before  you  take  any  step  in  the  purpose  you  now  speak 
of,  as  regards  the  information  you  require  I  may  say  that  the 
course  of  a  student  desiring  to  enter  law  is  to  attend  the  chambers 
of  an  advocate  and  for  which  he  is  indentured  for  4  years,  one 
yr  allowed  him,  if  during  his  course  he  takes  the  degree  of  B.  L. 
A.  which  takes  3  yrs.  to  attend  lectures  and  examination  in  every 
session  in  March,  the  student  attends  these  lectures  during  the  3 
yrs  of  his  indentureship;  I  send  you  a  calendar  which  explains 
examination;  the  fees  for  lectures  are  the  two  first  $$  and  $20. 
A  lawyer  might  take  you  into  his  office  for  your  services  though 
in  some  you  pay  to  be  indentured,  of  course  y  ou  have  to  board 
yourself;  you  ought  to  consult  your  uncle  Goldsmith  who  would 
I  am  sure  do  all  he  can  for  you;  it  is  astonishing  the  number  of 
well  educated  young  men  who  take  to  farming,  prefering  the 
independence  of  the  life  to  the  busy  and  trying  life  of  profes- 
sions; that  is  a  good  aphorism  "man  wants  but  little  here  below 
nor  wants  that  little  long;"  the  blessed  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ' 
for  his  believing  people  may  be  this  )'r.,  and  then  dear  friend  we 
shall  with  your  precious  mother  pass  an  eternity  of  happiness 
with  him  "who  washed  us  in  his  own  blood  and  made  us  kings 
and  priests  unto  God,  and  his  Father"  &c.;  Rev.  I  chapt.  5  and  6 
verses;  we  are  just  at  the  end  of  the  journey,  our  lamps  are  bnrn- 
ing  with  oil,  (the  spirit,)  and  we  shall  enter  in  when  he  calls. 
Your  affectionate  friend,  W.  C.  Blair,  Sec."  Have  also  read 
Tom  Moore's  poems,  his  longest  is  Lalla  Rookh,  which  brings 
Eastern  scenes  to  perfection  before  the  eyes;  have  been 
reading  Byron,  there  seems  to  me  a  tinge  of  saoness  about  many 
of  his  poems.  "20th  July.  Dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  the  only 
way  I  can  account  for  your  Uncle  Jerrold's  letter,  saying  that 
you  could  keep  Oak  Hill,  is  that  it  was  written  2  days  af- 
ter he  wrote  to  you,  all  you  have  to  do  in  the  matter  is  to  write 
to  him,  stating  that  the  property  has  been  bought  for  him  in  my 
name,  he  ought  to  understand  my  sentiments  by  this  time  for  I 
have  written  several  times  to  him  saying,  that  if  you  kept  the 
property  it  would  rUin  you,  and  put  you  on  the  road  in  5  yrs.; 
you  have  plenty  of  land,  one  acre  of  your  land  on  lots  34  and 


t4A  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

35  is  worth  the  whole  of  the  200  acres  at  Oak  Hill;  it  is  also  too 
near  your  Uncle  Herbert,  and  there  has  been  too  much  quar- 
relling already;  when  you  bought  that  land  you  were  what  Mr. 
Gladstone  calls  "land  hungry;"  it  would  have  made  you  what 
Western  people  call,  "land  poor;"  should  your  Uncle  Jerrold 
desire  to  keep  the  lot,  I  shall  have  the  deed  made  in  his  name." 
^Montreal,  July  30th.  Dear  Tom  and  Arthur,  I  have  just  reed, 
a  letter  from  your  Uncle  Jerrold,  he  has  again  changed  his  mind 
and  says  he  intends  to  keep  the  lot  for  a  few  yrs ;  I  find  from 
sad  experience  that  it  is  easier  to  buy  property  than  to  dispose 
of  it,  the  Elms  farm  costs  me  £72  a  month,  besides  keepmg  up 
the  house,  then  there  i«;  my  city  and  sea-side  residence  to  keep 
up;  I  have  had  several  advantageous  offers  for  Oak  Hill,  and 
have  again  written  to  your  uncle  trying  to  persuade  him  to  sell 
it;  for  you  to  keep  it  would  only  make  slaves  of  yourselves;  all 
I  have  said  on  this  subject  has  beeen  prompted  for  your  sole 
benefit;  I  may  have  been  mistaken  but  time  will  tell."  The  Prin- 
cess Louise  and  Prince  Leopold  her  brother,  have  left  Canada 
for  England;  there  is  some  scandal  between  Mr.  Chaplean,  Prime 
minister  of  Quebec,  and  another  M.  P.,  Vrhich  is  not  very  credit 
able  to  Canadian  Statesmen;  Mr.  C.  thinks  his  work  ought  to 
be  sufficient  to  pay  for  his  board,  but  father  does  not;  received 
several  Land  league  circulais  from  E.  Howard,  the  Irish  Peas- 
antry have  certainly  grievances  to  complain  of,  but  many  of  them 
have  been  redressed  by  Gladstone's  government;  by  the  census 
of  1880,  Canada  has  4.350,933  population;  in  71 — 3,670,000; 
Bradford,  our  county  has  21,199,  in  'yi — 19,177;  a  very  slow 
increase  in  10  yrs.;  there  is  considerable  excitement  about  an 
infidel  M.  P.,  Mr.  Bradlaugh,  who  refused  to  take  an  oath  on 
account  of  conscientious  scruples;  a  suit  was  brought  against 
him  for  sitting  in  the  house  without  taking  an  oath,  and  he 
was  fined,  although  he  afterwards  consented  to  take  the  oath; 
it  was  decided  by  the  House  that  as  he  had  once  refused  to  take 
it  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  take  it,  20  policemen  prevented 
him  from  entering  the  House,  Lord  Seibourne  and  many  other 
eminent  lawyers  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  House  exceeded  its 
lawful  bounds  of  power  in  refusing  to  allow  Bradlaugh  to  sit  in 
the  House  after  he  had  been  honorably  elected  to  the  Parliament 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  245 

by  the  people.  I  had  an  argument  with  father,  and  said  that  all 
men  irrespective  of  their  religions,  or  belief  should  be  allowed  to 
have  a  voice  in  their  country's  government  as  long  as  they 
kept  the  secular  laws,  and  were  worthy  citizens.  An  Insurance 
agent  wanted  me  to  insure  my  life,  I  said  if  I  was  a  married  man 
I  might  consider  it  my  duty  to  do  so,  but  as  I  had  no  one  de- 
pendant upon  me  I  did  not  care  to  pay  $60  a  yr.,  even  though 
the  money  would  be  refunded  to  me  in  20  prs.;  although  hun- 
dreds of  speeches  have  been  made  on  Protection,  thousands  of 
clever  men  in  both  the  Conservative  and  Liberal  party,  hold  di- 
rectly opposite  views  on  a  subject  that  is  of  so  vital  importance 
to  the  manufacturing  and  commercial  prosperity  of  their  coun- 
try; the  adoption  of  that  policy  however,  has  had  a  most  bene- 
ficial effect  on  the  country.  30th  July;  have  hired  a  man  at  $26 
a  month  and  board;  some  Sundays  1  go  to  church  and  spend 
the  afternoons  at  Mr.  Dougalls,  playing  checkers  with  him  and 
other  players  on  his  lawn,  which  is  a  rendevous  for  the  best 
players  of  Aston.  Have  given  the  job  of  cutting  some  of  the* 
hay  on  Oak  Hill  to  Fetreault  on  halves;  wild  raspberries  sell  at' 
25cts.  for  5  gallons.  Helena  Wakefield  is  on  a  visit  at  G*s.,  she 
is  a  sensible,  religiously  inclined  young  lady,  but  alas,  has  red  ■ 
hair  and  a  freckled  face,  which  spoil  the  effect  of  a  good  figure 
and  intellectual  brow;  have  had  a  picnic  and  a  few  private  par- 
ties for  her  benefit.  I  paid  Mrs.  Vincent  to  repair  the  rooms  in 
father's  house,  as  Mr.  C.  expects  his  wife  to  arrive  shortly;  have 
nearly  f'.nisned  excavating  the  earth  to  a  depth  of  3  ft.  out  of 
our  stable  to  make  it  have  a  height  of  7  ft.  Nicholas  came  out 
to  see  us  with  a  friend,  shot  at  targets,  boxed,  wrestled,  played 
cricket  and  performed  other  athletic  sports,  such  as  lifting 
weights,  throwing  weights  and  movements  on  a  horizontal  bar; 
my  aunt  and  Ethel  passed,  my  aunt  looked  as  astonished  as  if 
we  were  Earth  men  from  Africa;  this  will  give  her  fresh  fuel  to 
throw  on  her  altar  of  gossip.  "Cork,  August  '81.  Dear  Uncle 
Jonathan,  I  asked  Uncle  Timothy  for  information  about  Beau- 
fort, but  he  never  answered  my  letter.  I  have  to  give  yoii  a  scold- 
ing for  the  nonsense  you  have  thought  of,  and  putting  into  Beau- 
forts  head  such  nonsense  as  those  nice  young  men  in  Aston  vil- 
lage, if  I  ever  go  to  America  it  is  for  a  home,  not  to  be  married;  I 


246  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

thought  you  quite  a  different  man,  than  to  talk  that 
trash,  when  1  was  on  a  visit  with  you  and  Aunt 
Sarah  in  London,  you  never  spoke  thus  to  me,  nor  will 
I  or  Angelica  stand  it,  nature  seldom  changes  with 
the  climate.  We  never  intended  leading  a  life  of  celibacy  while 
in  Ireland  but  once  we  set  our  feet  on  American  shore  we  will 
lead  such;  do  not  think  for  one  instant  I  am  in  play,  we  do  not 
eare  how  fine  your  young  Americans  are  for  we  do  not  want 
them,  we  will  refuse  to  go  if  we  hear  any  more  disgusting  low 
talk,  perhaps  if  Beaufort  was  not  married  he  would  not  be  in  such 
haste  to  marry  now;  it  is  for  our  health  we  should  go  out  and 
not  for  our  marriage,  for  I  am  far  from  being  strong;  we  have 
chosen  where  we  will  love  and  have  resolved  to  love  our  choice, 
uncle  Jonathan;  let  me  tell  you  that  job  has  been  taken  off  your 
hands;  give  us  a  solemn  promise  that  you  will  never  utter  such 
trash  again;  love  to  Beaufort,  Tom,  Arthur  and  yourself,  your 
affec.  niece,  Ethel  M.  Churchill.  I  am  really  ashamed  that  father 
did  not  exhibit  better  taste  than  to  write  thus  to  ladies  who  are 
old  enough  to  be  the  average  young  man's  mother;  he  once  at 
least  was  a  gentleman  in  manners  but  from  constant  vulgar  asso- 
ciations during  the  last  20  years  has  greatly  deteriorated.  From 
Clifford:  "The  Elms,  Aug.  23,  '81.  I  only  finished  haying  on  the 
5th;  the  first  yr  we  got  20  loads  off  this  place,  last  year  29  and 
this  yr  58,  off  of  6^2  acres  of  clover,  the  first  cutting  yielded  i6 
double  loads  and  2  single  and  the  2d  cutting  9  double  loads  and 
yet  there  will  be  a  good  aftermath;  we  have  put  up  3  miles  of 
fencing  this  year.  President  Garfield  is,  I  read,  in  a  very  pre 
carious  condition.  Hay  is  selling  here  for  |>  10  a  ton.  Has  your 
poetic  muse  been  awakened  lately  if  so  plea'Je  favor  us  with  a 
copy.  Mother,  Flora,  and  I  of  her  children  have  just  left,  Mabel 
and  little  Angelica  are  staying  with  me.  From  a  letter  to  uncle 
Richard  I  have  had  an  offer  of  II900  for  Oak  Hill  from  a  reliable 
party  who  will  pay  half  down,  so  if  uncle  Jerrold  has  decided  to 
dispose  of  it  he  should  not  lose  this  good  opportunity;  we  have 
just  finished  cutting  some  swamp  grass  w^hich  makes  good  fodder 
for  cattle;  some  of  our  oats  will  be  ready  for  harvesting  in  a  few 
days."  Received  a  postal  card  from  Dr.  Bacon  and  Mr.  Mere- 
dith, church  wardens  for  St.  Mark's  inviting  us  to  a  meeting  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  24/ 

to  be  held  in  the  church  on  church  affairs;  its  members 
are  |>  1 80  in  arrears  of  their  dues;  the  envelope  system  is  not  a 
success,  it  does  not  gratify  human  vanity  as  well  as  an  open  silver 
salver.  We  have  to  go  twice  a  week  to  the  village  for  bread  as 
it  gets  mouldy  if  kept  longer.  Poor  Dr.  Oliver  is  dead,  a  man  of 
brilliant  talents,  splendid  education  and  capable  of  being  an  or- 
nament to  his  profession  had  not  his  health  and  reputation  been 
blasted  by  the  use  of  opium  and  whiskey.  The  Meredith's  have 
been  invited  to  a  high  toned  picnic  of  select  French  people  at 
which  Mr.  Mignault,  member  from  our  county  is  to  be  present. 
We  pay  15  cts  a  dozen  for  eggs;  we  rise  every  morning  during 
haying  at  ^  past  4  and  work  till  ^  past  7.  The  dramatic  club 
of  St.  Andre  cleared  $75  at  their  last  entertainment  which  is  ac- 
counted for  as  it  was  in  aid  of  the  church  and  of  course  all  the 
faithful  attended.  i6lh  Aug.  the  whole  atmosphere  is  full  of  smoke 
a  sign  th2t  forest  fires  are  at  work.  Philip  G.  brought  us  some 
bear's  meat  which  is  as  tender  as  chicken  but  to  me  had  an  un- 
pleasant wild  flavor.  Roussin  has  had  a  beutiful  fountain  placed 
in  his  lawn,  he  is  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  energetic  French 
citizens  in  Aston  In  our  spare  time  we  are  stumping  our  clear- 
ance. The  P^nglish  Lords  and  Commons  cannot  agree  on  the 
Irish  Land  Bill,  but  they  will  of  course  give  way  to  the  will  of 
the  Commons.  The  forest  fires  have  run  all  over  our  clearance 
and  done  most  valuable  work  by  burning  all  the  stumps  out. 
Sarah  is  on  a  visit  at  Uncle  Herbert's.  How  quick  time 
flies,  it  seems  but  a  short  time  ago  all  G.  children  and  our- 
selves used  to  sit  in  the  orchard  in  the  cool  air  of  a  summer's 
evening  and  talk  together  about  the  great  things  we  were  going 
to  accomplish.  Childhood  is  truly  a  very  happy  period  in  one's 
life;  joy  and  pleasure  is  less  counteracted  by  the  cares  and  vex- 
ations of  life.  Went  to  Brodeur's  to  borrow  an  ox  yoke;  we 
broke  our  own  in  pulling  stumps;  Louis  was  making  rails  for  a 
hotel  keeper  of  Aston.  Mrs.  B  Sr.  tried  to  blow  the  dinner  horn 
but  failed;  I  pitied  the  sad  look  upon  her  face.  Well  do  I  remem- 
ber years  ago  the  strong,  clear  blast  of  that  horn  for  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  distance,  when  she  used  to  call  her  poor  old  Antoine 
to  dinner;  but  age  has  taken  her  teeth  away  leaving  her  a  gray- 
headed,  sad  old  woman.     Broke  Brodeur's  yoke;  ichis  makes  3 


248     .  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

OX  yokes  in  5  hours;  all  the  ornamental  trees  we  left  in  the 
clearance  have  been  destroyed  by  fire.  Daniel  C.  and  I  went  to 
Davenport  to  a  pjc-nic;  the  grove  in  which  it  was  held  had  too 
much  brushwood  for  comfort;  there  were  about  50  people  in  all, 
mostly  of  the  middle  class  as  could  be  seen  from  the  ungramati- 
cal  way  they  spoke.  Old  men  talked  agriculture  and  politics 
old  matrons  of  gossip  and  "garden  sass,"  the  young  men  and 
girls  amused  themselves  singing  to  the  music  of  an  old  organ 
that  ommitted  the  most  heart-rending  sounds  as  an  ostentatious 
young  girl,  with  as  many  grimaces  as  a  French  dancing  master, 
played  thereon,  and  looked  around  occasionally  with  that  self 
consequential  air  that  led  one  to  believe  that  she  actually  thought 
we  were  all  enraptured  with  the  music.  There  were  also  several 
young  children  who  appeared  to  derive  great  amusement  from 
the,  numerous  swings  attached  to  the  branches  of  the  trees.  I 
organized  a  set  for  croquet,  and  with '  Florence  as  my  partner 
played  a  few  games,  but  the  afternoon  passed  in  a  most  intoler- 
able dull  manner.  In  the  evening  there  was  music,  singing  and 
^hort  orations  in  the  church,  and  I  must  say  I  never  heard  such 
a  great  variety  of  miserable,  squeaky  voices.  One  clergyman, 
from  Rawlings.  was  ungentlemanly  enough  to  criticise  a  short 
speech  Rev.  L.  C.  W.  made,  but  he  being  the  meekest  man  I 
ever  .saw  or  expect  to  see,  never  uttered  a  word;  the  proceedings 
closed  with  **God  Save  the  Queen."  As  all  the  apples  are  being 
stolen  on  Oak  Hill  I  have  sold  them  to  Fetreault  for  $5.  A 
comet  is  visible  every  evening  m  the  vicinity  of  the  "Great  Bear." 
Head  an  old  book  called  "Old  Eritz,"  an  historicnl  novel  of 
Germany.  In  reading  books  of  life  250  years  ago,  one  gets  a 
good  opinion  of  the  increase  of  the  morality  of  mankind.  Feni- 
ans have  had  a  fiendish  plot  to  blow  up  English  public  buildings. 
Garfield  it  is  thought  will  recover;  his  life  has  been  one  of  noble 
self  denial  and  heroic  courage.  Russia,  through  nihilism,  is  in  a 
yery  unsettled  state;  France  from  a  steady  policy  of  international 
improvement  has  suddenly  become  the  most  aggressive  nation  of 
Europe,  We  are  stumping  every  day;  most  of  the  stumps  come 
out  easily  as  the  light,  alluvial  soil  is  nearly  all  burnt  away  from 
the  roots;  those  that  are  difficult  we  pile  the  extracted  stumps 
around  them  and  burn  them.     Sold  our  oxen  to  a  butcher  for 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  24^ 

o  as  they  were  getting  old;  Tom  is  private  secretary  and 
writes  many  of  the  love  letters  for  the  young  Frenchmen  in 
these  parts;  our  blacksmith  charges  2 gets,  for  putting  on  a  new 
shoe  and  locts  for  putting  on  an  old  horseshoe.  Met  poor  Mr. 
Robert  St.  George;  habitual  intoxication  has  given  him  a  fear- 
fully wild  and  ghastly  look;  he  is  now  really  nothing  better  than 
a  walking  tempefcnce  lecture.  The  fires  that  have  raged  in  the 
woods  the  last  3  weeks  have  been  almost  extinguished  by  heavy 
showers.  A  Frenchman  passed  with  a  load  of  85  bushels  of 
charcoal  for  which  he  expects  to  get  $10  from  a  tinsmith.  25th 
Aug.  Have  commenced  harvesting  the  oats  at  Oak  Hill;  have 
hired  Mike  Murphy  by  the  month;  the  G.  boys  make  a  great 
pet  of  Sarah's  child  that  is  on  a  visit  at  their  place;  it  is  a  very 
old  fashioned  little  thing;  G.  boys  have  changed  work  with  us  at 
harvesting.  There  are  several  picturesque  roadways  through 
Oak  Hill,  over-arched  with  grand  old  beech  and  maple  trees. 
Lent  G's  our  mare  to  draw  bark,  as  one  of  their  mares  has  had 
a  foal.  Our  blacksmith  does  not  temper  the  drills  we  send  him 
properly,  which  causes  us  a  great  deal  of  inconvenience  in  dril- 
ling the  rock  in  our  well.  Extract  from  a  letter  from  uncle 
Jerrold  to  uncle  Richard:  "My  dear  Richard,  enclosed  is  a  letter 
of  credit  for  the  Howard  lads;  I  wish  the  understanding  to  be 
always  maintained  that  Tom  and  Arthur  do  nothing  without 
your  consent;  If  they  do  I  will  withdraw  all  assistance  from 
them.  Tell  Arthur  if  he  intends  to  speculate  it  must  not  be  on 
hard  earnings."  I  am  certain  that  I  never  asked  him  for  money 
to  speculate,  and  that  he  made  that  offer  himself  However,  this 
ends  it,  I  will  take  no  more  favors  from  either  of  them,  and  will 
go  to  some  college  as  soon  as  possible.  Received  a  letter  from 
Florence;  she  will  teach  the  school  again  this  year.  Uncle 
Richard  writes  that  uncle  Jerrold  has  decided  to  sell  Oak  Hill 
in  London.  While  on  a  boating  excursion  on  Richford  river  I 
was  greatly  surprised  at  the  natural  talent  displayed  by  a  young 
lad  6  years  old  who  lives  there,  who  can  take  good  sketches  of 
nearly  everything  on  and  about  their  farm.  Clifford  C.  through 
a  cramp  was  nearly  drowned  had  not  Philip  G.  rescued 
him.  Uncle  and  aunt  have  returned  from  a  visit  to  Davenport, 
where  they  say  tho  yield  of  apples  and  plums  will  be  enormous, 

32 


250  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Father  and  G's  have  had  another  difference  about  the  fence;  I 
warded  off  a  quarrel  by  repairing  the  fence.  While  driving  to 
Aston  with  Mr.  Churchill  I  was  astonished  to  see  him  on  one 
occasion  gaze  upward,  and  discovered  he  was  engaged  in  pray- 
er, although  driving  over  an  uninhabited  road;  I  told  him  it  was 
not  a  very  suitable  place  for  performing  his  devotions,  and  th  it 
he  ought  to  bear  in  mind  that  wise  injunction  of  St.  Paul:  "Let 
all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order."  30th  of  Aug;  G.  boys 
are  changing  time  with  us  and  are  helping  us  to  stump  our 
clearance,  which  is  very  laborious;  spent  a  pleasant  evening  at 
Meredith's;  Nicholas  and  Mabel  W.  are  great  friends  of  late. 
Mabel  wants  hirn  to  give  up  smoking,  and  broke  a  cigar  holder 
he  had,  for  return  for  which  he  broke  her  bracelet.  From  ap- 
pearances I  believe  that  both  their  parents  would  be  delighted 
to  hear  of  an  early  engagement.  Spent  the  evening  at  Vincent's; 
the  filthiness  of  the  conversation  of  the  family  and  the  numerous 
young  people  assembled  there  was  disgusting.  I  can  under- 
stand how  a  person  can  utter  an  oath  or  even  vile  language  in  a 
moment  of  fierce  anger,  but  to  do  so  day  in  and  week  out  with  a 
relish  for  it  as  if  it  was  the  most  brilliant  wit,  makes  it  appear  to 
me  that  filth  and  depravity  must  have  taken  a  fearful  hold  on 
these  peoples'  hearts.  Since  Houde's  have  left  Tom  has  com- 
menced to  spend  an  evening  occasionally  at  Morean's,  who  has 
three  charming  daughters,  one  blonde  and  two  brunettes;  it  is 
the  great  rendevous  for  all  the  young  beaus  of  the  range.  Our 
oats  in  the  back  clearance  has  been  fearfully  trampled  by  bears 
and  is  extremely  difficult  to  cut.  Received  the  calender  of  Raw- 
lings  College;  tuition  for  the  Art  course  is  only  $20  a  year  and 
board  and  washing  ;$2.70  a  week.  Wrote  as  follows:  "Dear 
Uncles:  From  the  recent  letters  I  have  lately  received  from  you 
I  plainly  see  that  we  can  never  agree  as  regards  my 'modus 
operandi'  of  farming,  therefore,  taking  this  into  consideration, 
with  the  great  disadvantages  here  of  vulgar  and  bad  associations, 
I  have  decided  to  discontinue  farming  and  study  for  some  pro- 
fession. I  need  hardly  give  you  any  reason'^  for  my  wishing  to 
perfect  my  education,  for  you  have  both  experienced  the  pleasure 
and  benefit  derived  from  it  in  vour  intercourse  with  the  world. 
Perhaps  you  may  reply,  why  not  perfect  your  education  and  be 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2$  I 

a  farmer  still.  I  reply,  this  might  be  possible  for  a  genius  poss- 
essed of  brilliant  intellect  and  great  physical  endurance,  who 
could  handle  the  axe  and  plow  all  day  and  afterwards  devote 
half  the  night  to  study;  but  even  such  as  he  would  lose  much 
time  and  suffer  great  inconvenience  without  the  aid  of  experi- 
enced professors.  As  1  have  not  the  means  to  pay  college  ex- 
penses and  carry  on  farming  at  the  same  time,  I  have  decided  if 
you  both  consent,  to  sell  my  half  in  Elmbrooke  to  Tom.  I  would 
not  take  an  art  course,  but  devote  all  my  time  to  the  obligatory 
subjects  necessary  for  the  profession  of  law.  Do  not  think  be- 
cause I  wished  to  change  from  farming  to  the  army  and  now  to 
law  that  I  do  not  know  my  own  mind,  and  will  always  keep 
changmg  about,  which  ruins  all  chance  of  success  in  life  for  those 
that  do  so.  I  only  gave  up  the  army  when  I  was  convinced  of 
its  impossibility  on  account  of  my  age.  The  total  cost  for  the  3 
years  course  of  lectures  at  the  university  and  at  lawyer's  office 
will  be  ;$68o;  nearly  double  which  amount  I  can  get  by  disposing 
of  my  half  in  Elmbrooke,  its  stock,  implements,  etc.  While  at 
McNeill's  at  Richford  he  told  me  that  he  had  money  to  loan  at 
fair  interest.  1  am  afraid  that  no  no  such  offer  will  be  made  to 
me  when  I  part  with  my  half  of  Elmbrooke,  for  no  matter  how 
honorable  a  man  may  be.  matter  of  fact  business  men  naturally 
dislike  lending  money  even  to  their  most  intimate  friends  when 
they  have  nothing  but  their  honor  to  offer  as  security.  McNeill 
and  his  hotel  have  such  a  comfortable,  genial  appearance  that 
they  more  resemble  the  English  inn  than  the  American  hotel. 
I  have  been  exceedingly  busy  of  late  finishing  harvesting,  pack- 
ing up  my  personal  effects,  balancing  our  account  books,  and  " 
making  a  list  of  everything  on  Elmbrooke  as  regards  stock,  im- 
plements, household  furniture,  etc.,  and  placing  a  fair  valuation 
opposite  each  article.  Tom  reduced  my  valuation  about  half, 
and  even  then  made  objections  to  buy,  I  told  him  that  it  was 
immaterial  to  me,  for  although  my  uncles  might  prevent  me 
from  selling  my  half  in  the  land  they  could  not  that  of  the 
moveables  on  it.  Tom  at  last  consented  and  gave  me  his  note 
for  them  at  half  the  price  I  valued  them  at.  Wrote  to  the  prin- 
cipal of  Rawhngs  saying,  that  I  should  attend  it  as  soon  as  it 
opened.    Sept  7th;  cut  buckwheat  at  Oak  Hill;  in  raking  buck- 


?52  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

wheat  it  is  best  to  do  so  while  the  dew  is  still  on  it  as  it  shells 
less.  "McLean  St.  George,  Esq.  Dear  Sir:  I  have  written  to 
my  uncles  stating  that  you  have  no  objection  to  being  paid  cash 
down  for  Oak  Hill.  Should  I  or  my  brother  hear  of  anyone  de- 
siring to  purchase  land  I  shall  mention  to  them  the  lots  you 
referred  to  in  you  last.  There  are,  as  I  suppose  you  have  already 
noticed,  two  extremes  into  which  farmers  and  land  holders  run; 
the  first,  a  want  of  enterprise  and  lazy  contenttnent  on  acquiring 
sufficient  land  to  provide  them  with  an  humble  living.  In  the 
second,  an  excess  of  enterprise  in  acquiring  more  land  tlun  they 
can  properly  manage  or  cultivate.  Of  the  tvo,  however,  the 
first  predominates  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,  whose 
farmers  subdivide  their  land  to  such  an  extent  that 
many  of  them  occupy  no  better  position  than  that  of  com 
mon  laborers,  which  position  they  deserve  as  they  disregard 
the  advantages  of  education  and  have  no  ambition.  Mike  Mur- 
phy, our  hired  man,  has  cut  his  foot  with  an  axe,  while  cutting 
the  roots  of  stumps;  I  went  to  St,  Marie  to  rent  a  house  close 
to  Meredith's,  for  Florence  to  teach  school  in,  as  some  of  the 
rate-payers  have  complained  about  Meredith's  house  not  being 
in  a  sufficiently  central  position,  the  place  has  greatly  changed 
within  the  last  few  yrs.;  the  splendid  growth  of  primeval  hard- 
wood forest  has  almost  disappeared,  and  been  replaced  by  large 
clearances,  but  the  village  remains  unchanged,  is  still  one  long 
straggling  street;  the  enormous  church  appears  to  me  far  too 
costly  for  such  a  small  place;  apple  and  plum  trees  are  loaded 
with  fruit;  the  wheat  crops  in  these  parts  is  a  fair  average,  but  a 
small  extent  is  under  it,  the  wheat  has  nearly  been  destroyed 
in  some  countries  in  Europe,  especially  in  England,  where  heavy 
rains  during  harvest  did  great  damage  to  the  crops;  it  will  have 
to  buy  from  India,  Russia  and  the  U.  S.,  the  latter  country  is 
one  of  the  greatest  exporters  of  agricultural  products.  In  one 
orchard  the  ground  is  strewn  with  plums  spoiled  by  mildew;  all 
these  windfalls  the  farmers  feed  to  the  pigs;  this  however  is  an 
extraordinary  yield,  which  only  occurs  in  3  or  4  yrs.;  some  yrs. 
there  are  no  plums  at  all  when  there  are  severe  late  frosts;  the 
largest  number  of  trees  in  an  orchard  seldom  exceeds  50.  Glow- 
ing descriptions  of  facts  like  these  in  rly.  guide  books  etc.  often 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  253 

give  people  in  other  countries  a  false  idea  of  America;  I  have 
known  emigrants  who  expected  to  have  wild  turkeys,  peaches 
etc.,  for  the  mere  tiouble  of  shooting  and  collecting  them;  many- 
Europeans  appear  to  forget  how  vast  a  continent  this  is,  and 
that  all  forms  of  climate  are  in  it.  A  French  peddler  rode  part 
the  way  home  with  us,  he  told  me  that  he  has  peddled  in  this 
part  of  the  country  for  the  last  30  yrs.,  and  that  he  has  only  just 
made  enough  to  live  on.  which  was  all  he  cared  for;  I  replied 
that  if  all  people  thought  thus  that  this  would  be  a  wretched 
looking  earth,  that  I  thought  it  was  every  man's  duty  to  acquire 
wealth,  learning,  and  everything  else  that  is  useful  and  good,  in 
as  great  a  degree  as  is  possible,  as  long  as  they  are  acquired 
by  honorable  means.  Herbert  C.  who  was  with  mc  said,  father 
sing  us  a  song,  the  term  "father"  is  used  by  all  French-Canadians 
to  old  men;  he  sang  a  song  of  his  own  composition,  from 
which  I  saw  that  he  possessed  considerable  education  and 
natural  talent;  how  sad  it  is  to  think  that  many  men  and  women 
who  might  form  the  brightest  human  gems  of  this  earth,  remain 
all  their  lives  in  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  the  river  of  life;  he  al- 
so sang  a  revolutionary  song  of  Papinean's  time,  *'vvhen  a  party 
of  French-Canadians  rebelled  against  F^nglish  rule,  and  hoisted 
in  several  villages  the  tri-colored  flag  and  cap  of  liberty,  and  a 
solemn  oath  was  taken  under  it,  to  be  faithful  to  the  revolution- 
ary principles  of  which  they  were  emblematical;"  he  also  sung  a 
song  about  Father  Chinguy,  the  great  French- Canadian  apostle 
of  temperance  in  his  early  days,  and  now  a  reformed  priest,  who 
is  doing  great  good  by  exposing  the  errors  of  Romanism,  by 
lecturing  all  over  the  world.  The  Witness ^  the  paper  we  take, 
is  one  of  the  best  in  Canada,  has  correspondents  in  England, 
France,  Ireland  and  all  the  Canadian  provinces.  Tom  gave  me 
a  note  for  $185,  ;^  100  of  which  was  money  I  advanced  the  firm 
when  we  first  entered  partnership;  the  balance  for  my  half  of  all 
the  movables  on  Elmbrooke,  it  is  ridiculously  low,  but  of  course 
I  prefer  selling  even  at  half  price  to  my  brother,  than  to  put  him 
to  any  inconvience.  Received  a  letter  from  Uncle  Pichard, 
which  in  the  first  part  says,  he  thinks  I  must  be  crazy,  and  in 
latter  part  that  I  may  possibly  succeed,  but  that  I  must  not  be 
rash,  and  acquire  a  thorough   knowledge  of  Latin  and   French, 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

by  taking  lessons  from  Rev.  L.  C.  Willoughby,  who  is  a  good 
classical  scholar,  which  is  belter  than  going  to  college;  also  re- 
minded me  than  I  would  be  nothing  "better  than  a  tramp  if  I 
sold  my  half  of  our  fine  estate."  Paid  Rev.  L.  C.  my  weekly 
subscription  to  date,  $3.57;  Tom  and  I  pay  towards  the  en- 
velope system  of  St,  Marks,  i6cts.  a  Sunday;  settled  up  all  my 
business  affairs  preparatory  to  my  departure  for  Rawlings  col- 
lege. Father  showed  me  some  relics  of  my  dear  mother's  early 
life,  paintings  that  she  had  taken  oi  Alpine  scenes,  and  a. por- 
trait of  herself,  when  18  yrs  of  age,  by  an  Italian;  as  I  gazed  on 
that  beautiful  portrait,  I  could  almost  have  wept  when  I  thought 
of  her  having  her  luxurious  home,  to  give  her  hand  and  affec- 
tions to  a  man  who,  although  he  had  magnificent  prospects,  as  a 
civil  engineer,  lost  them  all  through  his  want  of  energy  and 
slothfulness,  and  at  last  became  dependant  on  his  wife's  income 
for  his  support;  a  man  who  would  take  solemn  vows  upon  him- 
self to  "cherish,  honor,  support  and  protect"  a  lady,  and  who 
through  any  fault  of  his  failed  to  do  so,  does  not  deserve  the 
name  of  man,  let  alone  that  of  a  gentleman,  yet  to  my  daily  dis^ 
gust  do  I  see  men  who  are  in  good  standing  in  the  Christian 
churches,  break  these  solemn  vows,  as  well  as  the  hearts  of  the 
fair  beings  whose  lives  are  sacrificed  through  their  worthless- 
ness.  Father,  who  saw  how  dear  the  portrait  was  to  me,  kindly 
presented  it  to  Tom  and  I.  A  phrenologist  has  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  Aston,  and  is  reaping  a  bountiful  harvest  of  25cts. 
for  exaniinmg  the  organs  of  people's  heads,  he  has  a  chart  show- 
ing the  three  great  organs,  intellect,  feeling  and  propensity,  with 
their  numerous  subdivisions,  and  where  the  organs  are  to  be 
found  in  the  human  head;  truly  there  are  a  great  many  ways  of 
making  money.  On  arriving  at  Rawlings,  wrote  to  Uncle  Rich- 
ard. "Dear  uncle;  your  letter  reed,  to  day,  from  which  I  was 
sorry  to  hear  that  you  had  been  suffering  from  pain  in  one  of 
your  eyes,  also  that  my  letter  was  written  in  such  a  decided 
manner,  but  how  could  I  do  otherwise,  I  merely  wrote  saying 
that  I  wished  to  study  for  a  profession;  you  might  merely  think 
it  was  a  foolish  idea  of  mine,  instead  of  being  the  fixed  purpose 
ofmy  life,  and  decide  accordingly,  whereas  by  your  knowing 
that  it  is  my  unalterable  decision,  and  that  I  am    willing  to  de- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  25$ 

vote  yrs.  of  hard  work  to  make  it  a  success,  you  will  be  more 
likely  to  consent  to  my  abandonment  of  farming  for  law,  at  which 
more  favorable  opportunities  occur  for  associating  with  men  of 
culture,  which  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  a  young  man 
with  his  character,  ideas,  education,  manners  etc.  yet  to  acquire; 
hence  my  hasty  decision  on  a  subject  I  should  have  decided  yrs. 
ago,  and  which  I  must  now  accomplish  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible,  as  in  a  few  yrs.  more  it  will  be  too  late,  as  my  charac- 
ter, manners  and  habits  will  be  irretrievably  formed  and  fixed; 
when  I  reed,  your  letter  it  was  too  late  to  follow  your  advice,  of 
studying  with  Rev.  L.  C,  W.,  as  I  had  already  written  to  the; 
Principal  of  Rawlings  college,  saying  that  Iwould  go  there  for 
the  term  ending  Dec.  24th;  I  need  not  say  how  pleased  I  was  to 
hear  that  you  are  not  altogether  opposed  to  my  studying  for 
law,  and  I  will  adopt  the  most  inexpensive  means  for  obtaining 
the  object  in  view,  as  regards  the  balance  we  owe  you,  I  will 
at  farthest  pay  you  in  a  few  months,  when  I  shall  sell  the 
produce  of  Oak  Hill;  the  most  important  of  what  are  to  form  my 
studies  here  will  be  Latin,  Rhetoric,  Logic,  Philosophy,  and 
mathematics.  A  lawyer  here  has  offered  to  lend  me  his  books 
and  allow  me  to  attend  his  office  free  of  charge,  he  says  in  Eng- 
land they  always  charge  for  such  a  privelege,  but  not  as  a  rule 
in  (Canada;.  I  shall  try  and  follow  your  advice  by  being  "calm^ 
steadfast  and  steady,"  not  forgetting  that  a  man's  associations  in 
a  great  measure  form  his  ideas,  habits  and  character  for  honor 
or  dishonor,  according  to  his  choice  of  "them;  when  I  left  home 
all  the  harvesting  was  finished,  except  a  small  field  of  oats  not 
yet  ripe,  also  a  large  tract  of  land,  stumped  and  ready  for  sow- 
ing next  Spring;  your  affee.  nephew,  A.  N.  Howard."  I  am 
quite  astonished  at  the  deserted  and  seedy  appearance  of  this 
college,  which  has  only  two  youthful  professors  who 
have  not  any  college  degree,  and  in  fact  are  preparing 
for  McGill  university  themselves.  Prof  S.  however  is  an  M.  A ;  I 
was  greatly  astonished  and  disgusted  at  the  conversation  at 
the  dinner  table  and  should  not  give  it  to  the  public  even  tho  it 
was  the  conversation  of  so-called  professors  and  a  lady,  to  a  crit- 
icism made  by  Mrs.  S.  on  Prof,  R's  character,  he  replied.  "Oh 
do  not  be  too  hard  on  me  I  know  a  nice  little  scene  that  occured 


256  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

one  night  to  you;  since  writing  the  above  have  decided  that  the 
remainder  of  the  conversation  was  not  fit  for  publication.  Next 
morning  the  conversation  was  even  worse  and  decided  to  return 
home  and  study  under  Rev,  L.  C,  W's  tuition  till  I  collect  suffi- 
cient money  to  pay  expenses  at  a  college  in  Montreal;  told  prin- 
cipal S.  that  the  college  had  been  misrepresented  to  me  in  the 
calendar  and  that  I  considered  myself  justified  in  leaving  it.  On 
my  return  to  Aston  wrote  to  Uncle  Richard:  "dear  uncle  on  ar- 
riving at  Rawlings  college  I  discovered  that  it  had  been  greatly 
misrepresented  with  the  one  principal  as  the  only  professor  in  it 
qualified  to  give  instruction  and  only  2  students,  besides  the  Ian- 
guage  of  all  of  them  was  so  disgustingly  vulgar  and  indecent  that 
I  could  not  stay  there  so  I  shall  take  lessons  with  Rev.  L  C.  W, 
for  a  time  when  I  hope  you  and  uncle  Jerrold  will  consent  to  my 
selling  to  Tom  my  half  of  Elmbrooke  to  pay  college  expenses  in 
Montreal;  I  enclose  you  $$0  out  of  which  you  can  send  me  a 
Latin  and  French  dictionary,  the  balance  can  go  on  what  1  owe 
you.  While  at  Meredith's  Florence  told  me  of  an  amateur  the- 
atrical entertainment  to  be  given  at  Durham  and  wanted  me  to 
take  a  part,  told  her  that  I  greatly  regretted  that  I  could  not  do 
so;  borrowed  several  histories  in  French  from  Flcence;  Mrs.  M. 
told  me  their  library  was  iit  my  disposal  for  which  I  thanked  her. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Churchill  arrived  from  Quebec  this  morning  with 
a  young  nephew  of  his  wife;  Tom  and  Walter  went  to  the  exhi- 
bition at  Montreal.  Rev;  L.  C,  W.  charges  $4.  a  month  for  3  hrs 
tuition  a  week;  Mabel  is 'taking  lessons  in  Latin  with  me.  "Dear 
Arthur  I  rec'd  the  post  office  order  for  ^50  for  which  I  have  given 
you  credit;  Clifford  is  coming  out  shortly  to  spend  a  few  days 
with  us,  on  his  way  back  he  will  leave  the  books  at  Aston  station; 
you  write  wildly  in  your  letters  but  it  is  for  want  of  knowledge 
on  the  subjects  you  write  about;  you  do  not  want  to  go  to  col- 
lege if  you  did  you  would  be  a  dunce  all  your  life;  taking  young 
men  into  college  is  one  of  the  crying  evils  of  this  country  and  is 
the  cause  of  the  professions  being  crowded  with  young  men  that 
aie  not  as  well  educated  as  tinkers  apprentices  in  Europe.  We 
liave  had  a  sick  house  here,  Flora's  2  children  are  with  us,  the 
baby  is  very  sick;  Tom  has  just  arrived,  I  asked  him  what  books 
}'0u  had  and  you  seem  to  be  well  supplied;  I  would  advise   you 


•> 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2$/ 

to  stick  to  your  farm  and  prepare  yourself  for  your  primary  ex- 
amination in  your  spare  time,  4  branches  will  be  enough  for  you 
to  work  yourself  up  in  in  one  season,  English,  French,  Latin  and 
Geonietry;  next  yr  1  will  send  you  a  paper  of  requisites  for  the 
primary  examination;  half  an  hour  twice  a  week  with  Rev.  L.  C. 
VV.  will  be  sufficient  for  guidance  and  correction."  "Dear  Arthur 
I  atridge  shootmg  is  in  full  swing  now  I  suppose;  we  have  finished 
our  harvesting  and  got  26  double  loads  of  oats  this  yr  where  we 
got  21  last  year;  our  crops  this  yr  are  about  as  follows,  hay,  oats 
and  turnips,  very  good  potatoes  and  buckwhat  good,  peas  and 
barley  half  a  crop,  corn  fair  considering  it  was  damaged  by  late 
frosts.  President  Garfield  seems  in  a  very  precarious  condition, 
one  day  the  papers  say  he  is  in  a  fair  way  of  recovery  and  the 
next  that  his  life  is  despaired  of;  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  won- 
derful strength  of  his  constitution  he  would  have  been  dead  long 
ago;  it  would  have  been  good  if  they  had  given  Guiteau  20  or  20 
lashes  a  day  for  3  weeks  and  then  hanged  him,  wretches  like  him 
do  not  care  for  hanging  but  rather  like  the  notoriety  of  it.  They 
have  passed  the  Irish  land  bill  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  now  it 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  Irish  can  discover  fresh  griev- 
grievances.  Had  a  discussion  with  Langevin  he  said  Oh!  what 
filthy  blasphemy  for  your  bishops  and  priests  to  have  wives 
and  at  the  same  time  say  Saint  mass,  I  replied  that  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy  was  only  an  ordinance  of  the  church,  that  Christ 
never  condemned  it  and  would  not  have  restored  Peter's  wife  to 
him  if  he  disapproved  of  his  Apostles  having  wives,  that  St.  Paul, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Apostles  says,  even  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
version  of  the  bibl?,  in  the  3  chap.  2  verse  of  Timothy:  "It  be- 
hooveth  a  man  to  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  sober, 
prudent  and  chaste."  I  study  regularly  5  hrs  a  day  mostly  in  the 
evening,  continue  working  on  the  farm'  with  Tom  at  stumping, 
plowing  and  ditching.  29th  Sept  have  commenced  to  dig  our 
potatoes;  had  an  argument  with  father,  I  argued  that  there  cannot 
be  a  particle  of  a  doubt  that  the  U.  S.  with  its  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  miles  of  inland  navigation,  its  millions  of  acres  of 
fertile  soil,  its  vast  forest  and  rich  mines  and  its  energetic  educated 
inhabitants,  will  become  in  another  50  yrs  the  wealthiest  and 
most  powerful  nation  in  existence.     The  G's  have   swamped  all 

33 


258  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

their  bark,  told  them  they  could  have  their.cows  pasture  on  Oak 
Hill  for  the  rest  of  the  autumn;  while  at  Vincent's  Mctz  was 
shouting  and  cursing  in  a  horrid  manner  but  after  a  time  fell  down 
in  a  beastly  state  of  intoxication;  Louis  B.  was  also  drunk,  I  helped 
him  back  part  of  the  way  in  search  of  a  bag  of  provisions  he  lost. 
On  arriving  at  Joe  Vincent's  found  him  and -our  hired  boy  dead 
drunk;  5  or  6  drunken  men  and  boys  were  rolling  about  on  the 
main  road  uttering  obscene  and  blasphemous  language,  one  of 
the  boys  that  was  drunk  was  a  mere  child  only  10  yrs  of  age.  I 
was  disgusted  to  see  Herbert  and  Clifford  C.  setting  with  the 
Vincent  girls  with  their  arms  around  their  waists  whispering  the 
empty  ideas  of  their  idiotic  brains  into  ears  that  were  far  too  eager 
to  listen  to  £uch  sentimental  trash;  the  girls  I  am  sure  had  no 
charms  to  encourage  love  or  even  admiration  but  were  brunettes 
frightfully  pockmarked  and  one  of  them  made  such  attempts  to 
smile  that  it  was  positively  painful  to  behold;  Joe  Vincent  soon 
staggered  around  with  a  small  demijohn  full  of  whiskey  treating 
the  women  as  well  as  the  men;  I  told  the  women  that  they  ought 
to  set  a  better  exampie,  that  drinking  intoxicants  at  best  was  only 
a  useless  habit  to  some  and  ruin  and  destruction  to  others,  and 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  cry  true  man  and  woman  to  avoid  that 
which  does  not  benefit  themselves  and  is  a  source  of  destruction 
to  others.  Had  a  conversation  with  Murphy  on  Irish  affairs,  told 
me  that  he  had  seen  Irish  laborers  sit  down  to  a  dinner  of  pota- 
toes and  buttermilk,  that  the  potatoes  were  boiled  in  a  large  pot, 
and  that  the  potatoes  were  thrown  in  heaps  on  a  long  table  and 
eaten  without  the  aid  of  any  dishes  or  knives  or  forks;  conversed 
with  the  G.  boys  on  the  Colvin  Guernsey  scandal;  Mr.  C.  is  an 
ardent  admirer  of  bacchus  and  venus  and  hence  the  scandal  be- 
tween him  and  Miss  G.  Devlin  offered  Tom  the  chopping  and 
drawing  of  cordwood  4  miles  at  ;$  1.90  a  cord.  Mr.  B.  Mr.  Church- 
ill's relative  came  out  to  see  us,  he  is  a  jolly  rollicking  young  Irish- 
man. Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  are  sight-seeing  at  Montreal;  was  invited  with 
Mr.  B.  to  Meredith's,  had  a  delightful  evening,  Florence  sang 
some  of  Arthur  Sullivan's  latest  songs;  Maud  is  in  Montreal, 
it  is  feared  her  lungs  are  seriously  affected,  from  a  cold  she 
caught  while  skating  at  Toronto,  she  is  under  the  treatment  of 
Dr.  Hoadly,  one  of  Montreal's  most  skillful  physicians;  yester- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  259 

day  we  had  the  first  snow  storm,  is  considered  a  very  early  fall, 
as  it  is  only  the  5th  ot  Oct.,  but  it  has  all  melted  away;  Mr.  H. 
and  I  went  ont  riding,  he  is  a  superb  rider;  and  no  wonder  hav- 
ing ridden  after  the  hounds  on  his  uncle's  estate;  attended  an 
English  ball  at  Aston  school-house;  there  were  many  Richford 
and  Aston  people  there;  Mrs.  Burnett  of  Richford  has  a  fine 
physique  but  by  no  means  of  an  etherial  form*,  it  however  is  well 
proportioned,  and  well  set  off  by  a  close  fitting  black  velvet  dress; 
her  husband  gets  $1,000  a  yr.  as  manager  of  Sharps  tannery, 
which  he  spends  to  the  last  cent  "cutting  quite  a  dash,"  Miss 
Moore  wore  a  brown  satin  dress,  has  a  fine  figure,  but  her  fea- 
tures are  too  angular,  the  length  of  her  nose  alone  being  suffi- 
cient to  dispel  in  her  heart  any  hopes  of  becoming  the  belle  of 
Aston,  although  she  has  a  heavy  bank  account;  Miss  La  Ro- 
cheile  is  short  in  the  extreme,  has  somewhat  too  stout  a  figure, 
weak  looking  eyes  and  an  unpleasantly  long  face;  Miss  Vin- 
berg  is  possessed  of  striking  ugliness,  her  face  is  extraordinarily 
long  and  of  a  concave  formation,  with  a  nose  in  the  center  of  the 
concave;  like  that  which  little  boys  put  on  snow  men,  her  figure 
is  gaunt  and  angular,  but  her  eyes  are  the  crowning  point  of  hid- 
eousness,  and  glitter  like  those  of  a  serpent;  her  escort  Mr.  John- 
son, has  legs  like  broom-sticks,  square  jaws,  bony  cheeks,  and  a 
nose  that  looks  as  if  it  had  received  a  blow  from  a  12  lb.  ham- 
mer; a  receding  forehead,  and  a  mustache  so  waxed  that  the 
ends  of  them  would  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  and  seems 
to  have  lost  all  control  of  the  risible  muscles  of  his  face,  as  it 
continually  wears  what  cannot  truthfully  be  called  a  smile;  Mrs. 
Moore  has  an  ordiiary  figure,  oval  face,  and  with  a  little  more 
flesh  on  it  and  color  in  it,  would  make  a  fairly  handsome  woman; 
Miss  McNeill  has  an  apple  dumpling  figure,  looks  like  a  sack  of 
flour  bound  tightly  about  the  center,  a  short  stubby  nose  and 
protruding  teeth;  there  were  of  course  many  beautiful  women 
but  I  would  as  soon  attempt  to  describe  some  beautiful  flower 
as  them;  there  were  20  couple  in  all,  the  music  consisted  of 
violins,  harps  and  pianos;  the  Harpers  were  Italians  passing 
through  the  village;  we  all  went  to  a  grand  supper  at  Waterloo 
hotel,  on  returning  found  that  the  Harpers  had  not  tasted  the 
supper  that  was  sent  to  them,  on  being  asked  the  reason  why, 


26o  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN.  AMERICA. 

they  replied,  gentlemen  we  nave  played  all  over  the  world,  in 
London,  New  York  and  Paris,  and  can  truly  say  vve  have  never 
been  treated  as  rudely  as  we  have  been  here,  we  have  always 
been  asked  to  take  refreshments  with  the  rest  of  the  guests  and 
a  musician,  allow  me  to  inform  you,  is  as  respectable  as  any  of 
the  guests  here  this  evening;  some  of  the  so-called  ladies  turned 
down  the  corner  of  their  mouths  and  whispered,  the  idea !  that 
such  seedy  individuals  should  be  asked  to  supper  with  the  other 
guests.  I  thought  to  myself,  in  the  age  of  chivalry  no  musician 
would  have  been  treated  thus,  but  the  matter  of  fact  business 
people  of  the  present  day,  laugh  at  the  nations  of  former  ages; 
during  the  rest  of  the  evening  I  could  not  help  looking  occasion- 
ally towards  the  Harpers,  a  spirit  of  pride  seemed  to  pervade 
their  music  that  seemed  to  say,  onr  professicfn  is  honorable  and 
wer!e  not  ashamed  of  it.  "Dear  Arthur;  I  reed,  a  few  days  ago 
a  letter  from  your  Uncle  Jerrold  for  you  which  I  herein  enclose, 
I  was  very  sorry  to  see  by  it  that  your  letter  had  upset  him  very 
much,  I  was  not  at  all  surprised,  when  I  thought  of  your  sayings 
and  doings  for  the  past  yr.,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  your 
mind  had  come  a  little  off  the  balance,  I  trust  it  was  only  a  tem- 
porary abberration  and  that  you  are  all  right  again,  this,  in  my 
opinion  is  the  most  charitable  view  in  question,  otherwise  some 
of  your  acts  were  unpardonable,  for  instance,  your  abandoning 
your  good  brother  as  if  he  had  no  more  claim  on  you  than  a 
rat;  in  your  Uncle  Jerrold's  letter  he  says  he  would  like 
to  lease  Oak  Hill  to  your  Uncle  Herbert,  if  I  will  guarantee  the 
intetest  at  6  per  ct."  "Sept.  27th.  Dear  Arthur,  before  you 
string  together  a  few  nonsensical  sentences  on  the  assumption 
that  you  are  a  man  of  genius,  pray  learn  to  write  aud  speak  per- 
fect English,  also  see  whether  your  mighty  genius  can  accom- 
plish a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Latin  grammar  and  syntax, 
this  you  ought  to  try  before  you  begin  to  prophecy  and  launch 
out  into  ruin;  do  you  think  your  health  can  stand  close  confine- 
ment? or  do  you  think  yourself  capable,  at  all  events  try  at  home 
first,  just  as  your  Uncle  Richard  and  I  did  in  our  younger  days; 
as  far  as  I  can  judge  from  the  weak  and  washy  style  of  your 
writing,  that  you  are  not  the  right  sort  either  mentally  or  phys- 
ically, to  enter  upon  the  hard  and  dangerous  road  of  literary  or 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  26 1 

professional  competence,  much  less  eminence,  but  certainly  it  is 
only  right  that  you  should  try  what  you  can  do  at  home,  nearly 
all,  indeed  all  the  great  geniuses  that  have  risen  from  lowly  or- 
igin, have  gained  a  certain  amount  of  proficiency  during  the 
spare  hrs.  from  labor  and  business;  you  have  not  given  any  sign, 
you  are  only  the  same  Arthur  that  left  your  mother's  tuition;  see 
what  you  can  accomplish  first,  and  avoid  your  father's  destruc- 
tive fault,  of  bei Mg  Jack  of  all  trades  and  professions,  and  master 
of  none,  all  to  the  loss  of  those  that  were  foolish  enough  to  help 
him,  and  to  his  own  ruin;  I  have  so  much  trouble  and  turmoil 
of  my  own  that  I  must  request  you  to  cease  writing  to  me  as 
this  ends  our  correspondence;  your  well  wisher,  J.  R'  Goldsmith" 
from  a  letter  to  E.  lio^^ard;  ''Ireland  with  proper  land  laws  could 
support  a  population  twice  as  large  as  it  has  to-day,  how  much 
better  would  it  be  for  England  to  have  this  larger  population  of 
contented  patriotic  subjects  improving  and  increasing  the  pro- 
ductiveness of  their  small  farms,  instead  of  the  small  population 
it  now  contains,  ^'^  of  which  are  oppressed  and  discontented, 
with  a  few  thousand  lords  and  landlords  with  their  mansions, 
parks,  hounds  and  scores  of  servants,  which  do  more  harm  to 
Gt  Britain  than  all  the  Land  Leaguers  combined;  no  one  believes 
the  boast  of  some  of  these  great  lords  and  landlords  "that  Eng- 
lands  greatness  would  be  gone  forever  if  they  and  their  system 
was  done  away  with,"  is  not  the  producer,  whether  he  be  farmer, 
mechanic  or  laborer,  of  more  actual  benefit  to  the  country  than 
20  lords  or  landlords  who  consume  and  waste  the  wealth  of  the 
country;  for  instance,  like  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  in  Scotland, 
who  raised  his  tenants  rents  in  some  instances  from  i^i8  to  ^85 
to  meet  the  losses  he  incurred  through  horse  racing  and  gam- 
bling; his  only  excuse  for  raising  his  tenants  rent  was,  because 
they  built  comfortable  houses  on  their  holdings;  is  not  injustice 
like  this  sufficient  to  paralyze  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  the 
best  of  tenants;  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  free- hold  system 
would  make  Gt,  Britain  a  greater  and  more  prosperous  nation, 
"Dear  Clifford;  Tom  will  accept  your  kind  invatation  to  go  "and 
have  a  good  time  shooting  partridges  with  you"  but  not  until  a 
piece  of  fall  ploughing  is  finished  on  Elmbrooke,  where  the  fire 
burnt  the  earth  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  on  over  1 5  acres;  we  have 


262  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

nearly  finished  pilirtg  and  burning  the  stumps  and  roots  that  re- 
mained; it  has  greatly  improved  the  appearance  of  the  place;  the 
potatoe  crop  on  Oak  Hill  was  very  good.  150  bushel;  the  ex- 
pense was  as  follows;  seed,  15  bushels  $7.50,  planting,  3  days 
work,  $2,  earthing  them  up  53.34.  applying  London  purple  and 
Paris  green  ;$2.20,  manure  $4,  digging  them  out  ;$io. 
The  London  Times  asserts  that  the  new  land  act  is  very  nearly 
a  direct  confiscation  of  property  by  act  of  Parliament,  the  writer 
however  appears  to  only  think  of  landlords  rights  and  utterly  ig- 
nores tenants  wrongs.  One  of  the  bells  of  Aston  church  weighs 
2000  lbs.  and  cost  ^8700.  I  now  go  Yiiore  regularly  to  church. 
Florence  is  suffering  from  a  severe  cold  and  had  her  head  all 
bandaged  up  which  gave  her  a  rather  unpleasant  appearance,  if 
such  a  thmg  were  possible;  for  she  has  such  lovely  ey*.  s  that  were 
all  her  other  features  plain  they  alone  would  redeem  the  rest;  let 
not  the  reader  imagine  that  this  is  my  own  partial  opinion  for  I 
have  heard  strangers  say  that  they  never  saw  such  beautiful  and 
expressive  eyes.  Have  had  wet  weather,  drizzling  rain  for  several 
days;  have  had  several  boxing  bouts  with  the  G  boys  of  late  bare- 
handed but  I  am  no  match  for  them  as  they  are  over  6  feet  high 
and  proportionally  well  developed;  vvent  to  a  bee  of  Andre  La 
Rivere  to  clear  land,  his  bill  of  fare  at  bees  is  considered  the  best 
given  amongst  i-he  French:  pork,  beef,  chicken,  potatoes,  soup, 
sauces,  bread,  butter,  tea,  sugar,  milk,  hot  buns,  apple  and  raisin 
pie;  played  a  game  called  "bluff,"  which  resembles  the  American 
game  of  "poker,"  in  which  game  the  player  must  never  allow  his 
face  to  be  an  index  of  what  his  hand  contains;  I  have  known  a 
man  with  a  pair  of  tens  by  having  the  nerve  to  raise  the  bet  make 
.his  opponent  who  had  a  flush  throw  down  his  hand  and  allow  his 
opponent  to  clear  the  table;  this  in  French  interpreted  literally  is 
called  "eating  a  spruce;"  while  at  Rev.  L.  C.  W's  I  listened  to 
Florence  and  Mabel  play  a  few  duets  and  sing,  I  thought  at  the 
time  that  if  my  dear  mother  had  been  preserved  to  me  or  that  I 
had  the  gentle  and  civilizing  society  of  sisters  like  these  good  and 
accomplished  young  ladies  I  would  be  much  the  better  for  it,  but 
it  is  quite  probable  I  would  be  no  better  than  the  majority  of 
b  'Others  and  often  treat  them  in  a  most  unkind  and  ungentlemanly 
manner.     The  amateur  dramatic  troupe  of  Rawlings  gave  a  per- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  263 

foi  mance  in  Aston  town  hall;  Florence  sang  a  song  that  received 
great  applause;  uncle  Richard  drove  past  our  house  with  uncle 
Herbert  and  borrowed  our  lanterns;  I  saw  him  drive  pass  our  gate: 
with  a  sigh  of  regret  for  I  know  it  is  because  he  is  displeased 
with  me  that  he  does  not  stop  at  our  house  as  he  used  to  do  for 
he  dislikes  staying  at  uncle  Herbert's  who  has  married  beneath 
him  in  Ireland  to  a  woman  belonging  to  the  middle  classes,  who 
tho  a  respectable  and  good  woman  often  uses  vulgar  language 
which  sounds  unpleasant  in  the  refined  ear;  uncle  Richard  invited 
me  to  go  up  to  uncle  Herbert's  and  spend  the  evening  there; 
uncle  discussed  Russia-phobia,  landlordism,  and  told  a  most 
laughable  anecdote  about  Jay  Gold,  illustrating  the  danger  of 
having  so  much  capital  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  one  man; 
next  day  he  visited  me  and  walked  over  the  clearance  on  Elm- 
brooke  and  was  greatly  pleased  at  its  improved  appearance  since 
we  have  stumped  a  large  portion  of  the  clearance;  while  at  Wheel- 
er's I  heard  father  talking  against  Tom  and  I,  saying  that  we 
should  help  him  to  work  his  place;  told  him  afterwards  that  he 
had  no  right  to  run  down  his  sons  to  the  world  and  had  no  real 
cause  or  grievance  to  do  so.  The  British  empire  has  the  largest 
empire  in  the  world,  8,700,750  sq.  miles;  Russia,  China,  the  U.  S. 
and  Brazil  rank  next  in  order.  Mijud  Meredith  has  returned  in 
perfect  health.  It  has.commenced  to  freeze  hard  during  the  nights; 
we  v.'ill  soon  have  finished  our  stumping.  One  thing  1  do  not  like 
about  uncle  Herbert's  family  is  that  they  always  try  and  get  the 
lion's  share  from  another  in  a  bargain  and  always  begin  a  couple 
of  hours  later  than  when  we  work  for  them.  The  traveling  troupe 
called  the  Guy  family  have  advertised  for  Aston  again  as  a 
"highly  moral  entertainment;"  by  a  proper  use  I  think  the  stage 
could  be  made  of  immense  benefit  in  educating  the  lower  class 
of  people  by  representing  truly  the  beauty  of  virtue  and  the  hid- 
eousness  of  crime.  At  a  bee  at  Carmichael's  there  was  quite  a 
drunken  row  amono  the  men,  Joe  Vincent  flung  a  cat  at  another 
man  but  he  missed  him  and  struck  me  in  the  face,  scratching  my 
face  in  a  most  frightful  manner,  a  fight  ensued  but  we  were  separ- 
ated by  the  rest;  in  the  evening  there  was  a  dance  and  card  play- 
ing, one  half  drunken  scoundrel  managed  to  get  into  a  room  where 
the  girls  and  women's  hats  and  shawls   were,  and  threw  them 


264  HISTORY  OF  THJL  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

as  well  as  every  man's  hat  he  could  find  into  the  well, 
which  is  35  ft.  deep;  some  hats  and  bonnets  were  borrowed 
from  a  neighbor  and  the  rest  had  to  go  home  bareheaded  on  a 
frosty  night.  "My  dear  Tom  and  Arthur  1  have  been  informed 
that  there  is  ^1200  worth  of  wood  on  Oak  Hill,  how  would  it  do 
for  you  and  Arthur  to  keep  it  and  dispose  of  the  wood,  but  I  fear 
it  would  interfere  with  your  other  farm  and  that  it  would  require 
capital  to  have  the  wood  cut,  should  you  think  you  can  manage 
it  and  make  money  by  it,  you  can  consider  the  matter  and  I  will 
write  ^.o  your  uncle  Jerrold  about  it,  but  you  must  remember )ou 
only  go  into  it  as  a  speculation  and  will  have  to  get  lid  of  the 
land  as  soon  as  possible."  Have  just  finished  reading  all  the  vol- 
umes of  Rollins  Ancient  History.  2d  Nov,  it  freezes  at  night  but 
is  bright  and  sunny  during  the  day.  Kxtract  from  letter  Irom  II. 
Howard:  "I  agree  with  you  that  Gt.  Britain  is  suffering  from  the 
restraints  imposed  on  agriculture  by  British  laws;  I  care  very 
little  about  military  supremacy  which  is  usually  a  temptation  to 
a  nation  to  do  wrong  as  Gt.  Britain  has  been  doing  lately  in  Af- 
ghanistan and  Zululand  and  as  France  is  now  doing  in  Tunis; 
France  has  been  more  happy  and  prosperous  during  the  last  10 
yrs  since  her  defeat  by  Prussia  than  before;  Gt.  Britain  is  now  so 
strong  that  she  doe*^  not  cart?  to  conciliate  Ireland  by  allowing 
the  Irish  to  manage  their  own  affairs;  we  o'ught  to  have  a  local 
parliament  in  Dublin  as  they  have  in  the  other  colonies;  remem- 
ber that  nearly  all  the  news  your  hear  and  read  in  the  newspa- 
pers about  Ireland  comes  from  London  and  is  prejudiced;  there 
has  been  quite  as  much  excitement  and  disturbance  in  England 
at  times  of  agitation  for  vaiious  reforms  as  we  now  have  in  Ire- 
land but  the  English  understanding  their  own  affairs  never  thought 
it  necessary  to  loci:  each  other  up  without  trial  as  they  have  at 
present  locked  up  some  250  Irishmen.  The  U.  S.  have  never 
been  able  to  compete  with  Gt.  Britain  in  selling  manufactured 
goods  in  foreign  countries,  the  cause  I  think  that  protection  by 
raising  the  cost  of  wages  as  11  as  everything  else  has  raised  the 
price  of  all  American  maiiufacture  so  that  England  can  undersell 
America  nearly  everywhere,  high  wages  are  of  little  use  when 
the  price  of  nearly  everything  you  have  to  buy  is  also  high; 
England  by  buying  American  corn  and  beef  cheap  without  duty 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  26$ 

is  able  to  manufacture  goods  more  cheaply  than  America  not- 
withstanding landlordism,  which  tends  to  raise  the  price  of  food 
in  Gt.  Britain;  Americans  do  not  seem  to  understand  this  bad 
effect  of  protection  and  they  have  gone  on  injuring  themselves 
and  other  nations  by  it;  American  shipping  has  dwindled  almost 
to  nothing  because  it  is  cheaper  to  build  ships  in  England  and 
Canada;  there  is  lots  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  United  States  but 
the  high  cost  of  labor  (the  result  of  protection)  keeps  them  from 
being  used  as  they  might  be.  While  I-ouis  Hrodeur  was  working 
for  us  was  surprised  to  discover  that  there  can  be  such  a  thing  as 
a  "half  holiday,"  that  it  is  a  sin  to  work  in  the  forenoon  but  not 
in  the  afternoon,  truly  the  priesthood  are  getting  it  d  /n  to  a 
pretty  fine  point.  Miss  Guernsey  tried  to  drown  herself  but  her 
courage  failed  and  she  fell  in  a  fit  on  Mr.  Wheeler's  veranda: 
8th  Nov.  Tom  and  I  have  commenced  plowing;  have  to  clean 
the  horses  legs  from  mud  and  moisture  every  evening;  care- 
lessness in  doing  this  gives  horses  sore  legs;  I  finished  collecting 
all  the  old  corrrespondence  at  Father's,  many  letters  and  papers 
he  would  not  give  me,  which  I  expect  vvere  full  of  criticisms  on 
himself.  1 2th  Nov  ,  froze  hard  last  night  and  has  commenced 
to  snow  to-day;  there  is  much  dissension  among  the  French 
people,  some  of  them  want  to  have  the  school-house  moved  closer 
to  the  East  end  of  ihe  range,  which  is  more  thickly  inhabited; 
some  of  the  R.  C's.  are  trying  to  have  our  school  fall  into  their 
hands,  so  we  must  be  on  our  guard,  and  do  all  our  business  ex- 
actly up  to  the  letter  of  the  law;  have  heard  from  Mrs.  Brcdeur 
that  Percile  Vincent  has  my  grandmother  and  mother's  wedding 
ring,  that  Tom  Somerset's  father's  hired  boy  stole  from  a  ward- 
robe; I  went  to  Vincents,  and  to  avoid  any  unnecessary  trouble 
I  paid  her  $  i  to  give  it  up;  one  of  Andre's  calves  came  back  to 
his  farm  with  a  dead  cat  tied  to  its  tail,  a  very  mean  action  for 
one  neighbor  to  do  to  another;  Fancher,  an  old  lumberman  says 
that  shanty  work  does  not  pay,  that  a  farmer  is  far  better  at  home 
all  winter,  even  if  he  only  feeds  his  animals  and  works  around 
his  house,  he  says  he  will  give  up  lumbering,  which  causes  a 
great  wear  and  tear  oki  clothes,  horses,  harness,  sleighs  &c.  As 
the  afternoon  was  stormy,  I  classified  my  journal   for  the   yrs. 

from  '75  to  '80;  Tom  and  Clifford  have  just  arrived  from  a  po- 

34 


l66  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

litical  meeting  held  at  Aston  Town  Hall.  i6th  Nov.,  the  snow 
has  disappeared,  it  froze  so  hard  last  ni^ht  that  we  will  not  be 
able  to  plough  to  day,  but  the  weather  is  gloriously  bright,  clear 
and  exhilarating.  The  outlook  on  my  prospects  of  late  are 
somewhat  gloomy,  both  my  uncles  have  ceased  to  write  to  me, 
but  I  feel  confident  that  shortly  I  shall  be  independent  of  them 
all;  have  decided  in  my  studies  and  reading  never  to  pass  a  word 
or  sentence  until  I  fully  comprehend  its  meaning,  and  to  strive 
always  to  keep  my  footsteps  in  the  path  of  duty,  no  maf.er  how- 
alluring  mc(>  be  the  path  of  pleasure.  "Elmbrooke,  Dec.  26th 
'81.  Dear  uncle,  we  received  your  letter  on  Saturday,  and  wish 
to  thank  you  for  the  unchanging  interest  you  have  always  taken, 
and  still  take  in  our  welfare,  also  for  the  Christmas  present  you 
•so  kindly  sent  us,  Uncle  Jerrold  has  not  written  either  to  Tom 
or  myself  for  several  months,  from  which  I  imagine  he  niu'*t  be 
greatly  displeased  with  me  for  having  decided  to  study  for  a 
profession  instead  of  remaining  a  farmer  on  Elmbrooke,  which 
seems  to  have  been  his  earnest  wish  as  regards  us  both;  I  can- 
*not  tell  you  how  much  I  regret  having  to  act  with  apparent  in- 
gratitude in  not  fulfilling  his  wishes  by  doing  .so,  but  in  reality 
it  would  have  been  far  more  unwise  and  ungrateful  of  me  to 
spend  a  life  time  among  people  and  associations  that  have  always 
had  a  degrading  effect  on  the  character  of  all  those  that  were 
obliged  to  associate  with  them,  and  among  whom  not  even  a 
Christian  gentleman  could  live  for  a  number  of  yrs  ,  without  hav- 
ing his  character  and  manners  most  unfavorably  influenced  by 
the  vile  associations  with  which  he  would  be  surrounded,  how 
much  more  injurious  must  those  associations  be  to  a  young  man 
of  an  impressive  age,  with  their  characters  but  impartially  formed 
and  without  the  necessary  safe  guard  of  a  good  education,  that 
they  should  escape  deterioration,  is  nearly  as  great  an  impossi- 
bility as  that  of  holding  a  cambric  handkerchief  in  a  smoky  room 
without  getting  it  discolored,  no  society  at  all,  would  be  a  great 
er  advantage  to  many  people  living  in  rural  districts  of  this  part 
of  the  country,  than  that  which  they  have  the  misfortune  to  live 
in,  the  influence  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  unless  one 
makes  a  hermit  of  himself,  as  life  in  the  country  is  totaHy  differ- 
ent from  that  in  cities,  where  one  can  choose  his  own   acquain- 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  26/ 

tanccs  from  a  greater  variety  of  people,  and  avoid  the  acquain- 
tance of  even  a  neighbor  without  giving  offence;  in  the  country 
on  the  contrary,  to  avoid  the  acquaintance  of  a  neighbor  is  about 
the  surest  way  to  make  an  enemy  of  him,  and  in  most  of  the 
rural  districts  in  this  province  there  is  really  no  good  society  at 
all  to  choose  friends  or  acquaintances  from,  and  the  individ;jal 
who  at  first  would  have  preferred  good  society,  generally  from 
long  acquaintance  becomes  accustomed  to  that  which  surrounds 
him,  and  in  most  cases  gradually  deteriorates,  until  he  almost 
reaches  the  same  level  as  that  of  his  associates;  however  as  I 
have  not  been  able  to  act  according  to  yours  and  Uncle  Jerrold's 
wishes  as  regards  KImbrooke,  I  have  decided  not  to  trespass 
any  further  on  the  great  generosity  that  my  Uncle  Jerrold  has 
always  shown  to  our  family,  and  which  if  1  did,  would  entitle  me 
to  the  just  contempt  of  my  friends,  for  being  so  base  as  to  receive 
money  from  a  benefactor  after  I  had  lost  his  esteem  and  affjction, 
therefore  under  the  circumstances,  and  as  so  much  of  his  money 
has  been  spent  in  Elmbrooke  and  intended  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  make  it  a  fine  estate,  I  resign  my  half  in  Elmbrooke  to 
you  and  Uncle  Jerrold  in  equal  shares,  of  which  when  you  in- 
form him  you  will  greatly  oblige  me  by  expressing  to  him  my 
sincere  thanks  for  all  the  kindness  he  has  shown  us  since  our 
dear  mother's  death,  and  which  I  shall  always  think  of  with  the 
deepest  gratitude."  All  my  expenses  for  labor,  seed  &c.  on 
Oak  Hill  ;^8i. 36,  and  over  $40  of  this  was  permanent  improve- 
ments, and  my  receipts  too  were  $175,  which  left  a  fair  profit. 
Extract  from  letter  from  Uncle  Richard:  "should  you  require 
any  more  books,  send  the  name  of  any  you  may  require,  as  I 
may  have  it  in  the  house,  I  think  there  is  nearly  a  cart  load  of 
eoucational  books  in  my  book  case,  if  not  I  can  get  whatever 
you  want  at  the  book  stores;  do  not  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to 
study,  you  have  abundance  of  time  for  studying,  if  you  had  more 
your  mind  would  get  fatigued,  you  will  get  on  much  better  as 
you  are  I  know  from  experience,  I  hope  you  will  use  your 
judgment  and  only  study  essentials,  I  must  congratulate  you  on 
your  spelling,  you  hardly  ever  make  a  mistake  in  your  letters, 
in  fact  few  letters  written,  even  by  the  average  gentleman  of  the 
present  day,    will  bear  criticism."     "22nd  Dec.   '81.     Dear  Mr. 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH    IN  AMERICA. 

Sherman,  I  am  sorry  that  neither. Tom  or  myself  could  avail 
ourselves  of  your  kind  invitation  before  this  on  account  of  our 
fall  work,  such  as  ploughinjj,  stumping  and  preparing  our  win- 
ter's supply  of  wood,  as  well  as  having  our  grain  threshed,  on 
Oak  Hill  I  raised  150  bushels  of  oats;  1  will  certainl)'  go  and 
visit  you  by  the  first  good  sleighing,  of  which  strange  to  say 
there  has  been  none  around  here  so  far;  the  like  of  which  has 
only  occured  once  during  the  residence  of  one  of  our  earliest 
settlers;  I  am  not  certain  whether  Tom  told  you  in  his  last  let- 
ter that  I  have  decided  to  study  for  law,  it  will  take  me  several 
yrs.  as  by  my  wishing  to  do  so  I  have  displeased  my  uncles,  and 
of  course  can  no  longer  honorably  accept  the  income  they  have 
settled  on  Tom  and  I  for  life,  so  1  have  given  up  to  them  all  my 
claims  on  Elmhrooke,  and  will  in  future  depend  on  my  own  ex- 
ertions alone;  I  was  thinking  that  perhaps  you  would  have  the 
kindness  to  give  me  employment  in  )  our  factory,  I  would  not 
care  what  start  iv  was  to  begin  with,  and  later  on  you  might  find 
something  better;  reply  at  your  earliest  convenience,  and  oblige 
yours  truly,  A.  N.  Howard."  "St.  Liboire,  Jan.  12th  1882. 
Dear  Arthur,  I  should  have  answered  your  letter  sooner  but 
have  been  away  at  Montreal  and  Charlesburg  on  business;  1 
would  give  you  employment  but  it  would  be  such  as  I  would  be 
ashamed  to  offer  to  you,  such  as  firing  the  boiler'  for  which  we 
pay  $1  a  day,  and  for  easier  work  in  the  factory  Sects.;  I  could 
have  given  you  the  working  of  the  pin  at  $1  50,  but  that  is 
gone  now;  we  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  in  a  short  time  of  see- 
ing you  both  at  St.  Liboire;  Mrs.  Sherman  joins  me  in  love  to 
you  and  wishing  that  th  ^  New  Year  may  bring  you  every  hap- 
piness, your  sincere  friend  I.  Sherman.  P.  S.,  tell  Tom  I  wish 
he  could  sell  my  land  next  yours."  13th  Jan.'  embarked  on  the 
•10.35  train  going  East  at  Aston;  Tom  and  Philip  came  into  the 
car  to  bid  me  good-bye;  I  now  start  in  life  a  second  time  with 
only  ;$j.25cts.  in  my  pocket,  no  matter  how  buoyant  one's  hopes 
may  be,  one  can  never  leave  old  friends  to  seek  new  ones  with- 
out a  feeling  of  regret;  for  the  last  few  weeks  before  leaving  I 
cut  cord-wood  for  Devlin,  but  he  is  to  pay  Tom  for  it;  I  left 
with  Tom  a  photo  of  our  dear  mother,  he  has  promised  to  send 
me  a  copy  of  it;  on  arriving  at  St.  Andre  found  to  my  disgust 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA'.  269 

that   I    was   too    late    for    the    train    that    goes    to    Ariing- 
ton,  and    That  I    would  have  to    wait  until    Monday   morning; 
put    up    at    a    first     class    French    hotel     for   75    cts.   a   day 
board     and     bed.     The      French      here      seem      to     put     on 
more  style  than  at  Aston,  handsome  fur  caps  and  overcoats  are 
quite  numerous;  I  was  surprised  to  see  what  a   number  of  well 
dressed  young  men  assembled  in   "gents   parlor"   and   had  their 
drinks  brought  to  them  from  the  barroom,  this  seems  to  me  an 
improvement  to  drinking  it  at  the  bar;  there  is  glsoa  "ladies  pari 
lor"  where  the  young  beaus  of  the  village  bring  their  sweethearts 
and  treat  them  to  wine,  on  Sunday  especially  when  young  beaus 
are  returning  from  mass  with  their  fair   ladies;  in  the  evening  I 
sat  in  the  barroom  and  listened  to  the  conversation  of  its  frequent- 
ers, which  was  chiefly  on   politics,  horse  racing;,   lumbering  and 
reminiscences  of  old  settlers;  the  French  around  here  seem  to  be 
more  respectable  than  at  Aston;  my   bedroom   was   handsomely 
furnished  and  had  a  luxuriously  soft  bed;   cannot   imagine   how 
they  make  ends  meet  at  75  cts.  a  day;  the    telegraph    operator, 
who  is  English,  tells  me  that  there  are  only  a  few  English  families 
here;  saw  a  whale  pass  thro  on  the  cars  for  Montreal,  about   $Q 
ft.  long  and  81^  thick  in  the  middle  of  the  belly;  I  am  informed 
that  there  is  a  superior  court  stationed  at  St.  Simon  3  miles  from 
here  and  that  12  lawyers  reside  there;  had  an  interesting  conver- 
sation with  a  Frehchman  from  old  France,  he  says  that  when  he 
first  came  to  America  he  often  threw  the  cup  of  water  from  him 
in  disgust  when  he  thought  of  the  wine  beverage  in  his  own  dear 
France;  wine  is  to  a  Frenchman  what  beer  is  to  a  German  a  sub- 
stitute for  water;  told  me  that  a   majority  of  Frenchmen  in  the 
cities  and  towns  had  no  respect   for  religion,  he  spoke   dispara- 
gingly of  Manitoba,  told  him  that  I  did  not  think  that  Senator 
Cochrane,  the  greatest  farmer  in  Canada,  would  not  spend  thous- 
ands of  (^   liars  there  if  he  did  not  have  great  expectations  of  the 
country,  lold  him  that  St.  Andre  had  been  opened  up  for  50  yrs. 
whereas  Winnipeg  had  its  first  settler  only  a  fews  yrs  ago  and  has 
to-day  25,00  pop.  while  St.  Andre  has  only  1,000  and  that  thous- 
ands were  mild e  every  month  by  individuals   who  bought  land 
there  a  few  yrs  ago,  and  that  many  young  boys  of  to  day  would 
live  to  see  Winnipeg  with  a  greater  population  than  the  city  of 


270  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Quebec.  After  leaving  St.  Andre  the  country  is  cleared  on  both 
sides  with  stunted  softwood  here  and  there;  the  country  is  very 
flat  (the  conductor  tells  me  that  Mr.  Milton  was  sent  by  Mr. 
Sherman  with  ahorse  and  sleigh  for  to  drive  me  from  Arlington 
to  factory  village)  softwood  forest  on  either  side;  this  train  only 
carries  i  first  class  and  i  2d  class  car  with  only  3  first  class  and 
10  second  class  passengers;  it  is  only  a  short  branch  hnefrom  St. 
Andre  to  Charlesbuig;  still  flat  and  uninteresting  country  cov- 
ered with  softwood  forest  averaging  30  ft,  high;  most  of  the  stop- 
ping places  are  only  composed  of  a  few  houses  and  are  called 
•'flag  stations;"  the  country  from  Arlington  to  St.  Andre  is  nearly 
all  swamp,  that  is  close  to  the  track,  farther  back  from  the  track 
the  country  improves  I  hear  and  is  well  settled,  in  some  places 
pass  peat  bogs  a  mile  or  so  in  extent;  arrive  at  Arlington  which 
consists  of  25  to  30  houses;  had  to  walk  8  miles  to  Sherman's  as 
my  funds  are  reduced  td  25  cts.  passed  over  slightly  rising  ground 
in  sight  of  Arlington  covered  with  a  fine  sugar  bush,  the  rest  of 
the  way  passed  thro  slightly  rolling  uninviting  country  covered 
with  stunted  softwood  forest  with  numerous  clearances  inter- 
spersed; on  nearing  St.  Liboire  the  country  becomes  more  hilly 
and  picturesque;  St.  Liboire  is  a  small  village  of  whitewashed 
houses  of  one  story,  street  with  an  unsightly  whitewashed  church 
which  forms  a  striking  contrast  with  the  very  handsome  house  of 
the  priest  who  owns  the  best  farm  in  the  parish;  from  St.  Liboire 
to  the  factory  village  is  a  mile  and  a  half  along  a  road  on  the  edge 
of  a  bluff  50  ft.  above  the  surface  of  St.  Herbert  river  and  a  bluff 
above  it  80  ft.  high  on  Ihe  opposite  side.  Mrs.  S,  received  me 
cordially  and  invited  me  to  stay  at  their  house  till  I  could  find  a 
comfortable  boarding  place;  their  house  is  comfortably  and  taste- 
fully furnished  altho  only  a  small  villa,  surrounded  by  a  beautiful 
grove  of  pines;  it  appear  to  me  to  have  more  real  comfort  and 
home  appearance  than  many  stately  marble  faced  mansions  I  have 
seen;  it  appears  to  me  as  if  years  of  practical  experience  had  been 
.spent  in  concentrating  to  the  greatest  advantage  everything  nec- 
essary to  beautify  their  charming  little  villa  in  as  small  a  space  as 
possible;  no  one  in  my  opinion  but  a  true  artist  can  properly  fur- 
nish a  house  to  the  greatest  advantage  no  matter  how  much  money 
they  may  possess;  I  spent  the  afternoon  and  evening  in  the  draw- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  .         Z7l 

ing:  room  in  interesting  conversation  with  Mrs,  S.  who  is  one  of 
natures  gentlewomen;  much  of  the  conversation  was  on  past  events 
and  incidents  in  both  our  lives,  she  is  in  my  opinion  a  model 
christian  lady;  had  the  nominal  half  hearted  Christianity  of  the 
present  day  more  like  her  mankind  would  be  the  better  and  hap- 
pier for  it,  yet  this  christian  lady  has  such  a  high  ideal  of  what  a 
christian  ought  to  be  and  such  a  great  amount  of  christian  hu- 
mility that  I  confidently  believe  that  she  regards  herself  as  one 
of  the  worst  christians  in  Christendom.  The  next  day  I  com- 
menced superintending  the  piling  of  cordwood  until  Mr.  S,  ar- 
rived. Clifford  and  I  had  commenced  writing  to  each  other  in 
French  before  my  departure  from  Aston;  I  give  a  specimen  letter 
translated  literally:  "Dear  Clifford  I  received  your  letter  with 
great  pleasure  the  day  before  yesterday  and  thought  it  would  be 
good  practice  for  us  to  write  to  each  other  in  French  language,  a 
language  that  the  English  of  this  province  should  be  acquainted 
with  to  render  more  easy  their  intercourse  with  the  French  Can- 
adians; I  am  making  fair  progress  with  my  studies  but  have  been 
disappointed  many  times  by  Rev.  L  C.  W.  not  being  at  home;  I 
assure  you  it  is  no  light  affair  to  walk  14  miles  on  a  muddy  road 
and  then  be  disappointed;  my  father  still  lives  at  the  old  home- 
stead and  is  greatly  obliged  for  your  good  wishes;  Churchill  who 
I  believe  was  "born  tired"'  is  going  to  Peterboro,  Ontario,  where 
his  wife's  brother  lives;  in  m/  opinion  we  are  bles'..ed  with  an 
aesthetic  in  Aston  named  Miss  Gran!:  but  I  do  not  like  her  man- 
ners or  conversation,  there  is  too  much  of  the  "utterly  beautiful" 
about  it;  this  winter  is  certainly  one  of  the  strangest  that  the  var- 
iable climate  of  this  country  has  ever  given  us.  "Jan.  13th, '82, 
dear  Arthur,  I  rec'd  your  letter  also  the  copy  of  the  lot  Oak  Hill; 
in  your  letteryou  say  you  renounce  all  claim  to  Elmbrooke  but 
you  cannot  do  that.  I  hold  the  land  in  trust  for  you  and  Tom  by 
the  authority  of  your  uncle  Jerrold,  and  it  was  always  under- 
stood, even  before  your  dear  mother's  death,  that  this  property 
was  always  to  have  been  a  home  for  Tom  and  yourself.  Your 
uncle's  motive  for  so  arranging  it  was  fearing  that  at  any  time 
either  of  you  might  be  tempted  to  part  with  it.  From  your  let 
ters  to  me  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  your  mind  is  oft 
the  balance  at  present  and  has  been  for  some  time;  I  should  ad- 


lyi  ,       HtSTORY  OF  Tllfe  FRENCH  IN  AMEklCA. 

vise  you  to  avoid  all  excitement  for  a  year  or  two;  work  steadily 
at  your  farm  and  make  a  comfortable  homestead  for  yourself  and 
while  you  are  doing  this  learn  to  read  and  speak  English  and 
French  correctly.  You  may  say,  look  to  your  own  son.  I 
know  it,  but  this  is  not  my  fault,  I  have  given  him  every  faculty 
for  acquiring."  When  Mr.  Sherman,  he  and  Mrs.  S.  decided 
that  firing  was  too  hard  and  dirty  work  for  me  and  gave  me  the 
job  of  superintending  the  piling  of  the  hemlock  bark  into  stacks 
as  it  is  drawn  here.  From  a  letter  from  K.  Howard:  "Remem- 
ber that  the  prosperity  caused  by  protection  is  paid  for  in  tax- 
ation by  farmers.  If  protection  is  any  good  why  not  allow  each 
Province  of  Canada  to  protect  itself  And  even  the  county  of 
Bradford,  should  it  not  tax  Montreal  goods  and  set  up  factories 
for  itself,  and  if  Canada  was  annexed  <-i  the  U.  S.  ought  she  not 
still  to  tax  American  manufactures  or  if  not,  why  not?  "Klm- 
brooke,  dear  Arthur,  I  have  just  received  your  letter  and  as  I  am 
confined  to  the  house  on  account  of  a  sprained  ankle  I  take  the 
opportunity  of  writing  to  yd\i;  I  do  not  think  you  are  acting 
wisely  for  the  sake  of  60  cts.  a  month  to  be  at  the  trouble  of  buy- 
ing provisions  and  having  them  cooked  for  you,  if  that  French 
family  live  like  ordinary  mortals  $t^  per  week  is  cheap  enough; 
it  seems  to  me  that  you  did  not  get  my  uncle's  letter  by  your 
saying  that  you  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  Elmbrooke  altho 
'I  enclosed  it  in  mine;  he  wrote  to  me  saying  that  he  held  the 
land  in  trust  for  us  so  that  it  is  still  yours;  you  allude  to  my 
having  a  fit  of  the  blues,  heaven  knows  I  have  reason  enough. 
This  has  not  been  a  good  winter  for  teaming;  I  do  not  think  my 
team  will  earn  what  I  expected  they  would.  After  you  left  I 
started  to  get  out  those  ties,  and  left  Jerrold,  our  boy  at  hoine; 
when  I  came  back  1  found  that  a  great  many  of  the  potatoes 
were  frozen  on  account  of  his  not  keeping  the  fire  going,  so  I 
saw  right  oft  that  I  could  not  get  along  that  way  so  I  went  and 
moved  all  father's  things  down  here;  he  will  sell  his  fodder  to 
settle  or  help  to  settle  his  accounts.  Montreal,  Feb.  i6th,  1882. 
"Dear  Arthur:  I  send  by  book  post  to  day,  a  French  and  Ger- 
man dictionary,  $1.75;  a  Latin  grammar,  25c.  and  a  French 
grammar,  25c.  There  are  translations  of  the  classic  poets  pub- 
lished, but  it  would  only  be  a  waste  of  time  studying  over  them; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  27J 

take  a  Latin  sentence  and  by  the  aid  of  your  dictionary  and 
grammar  work  it  out  until  you  see  the  relation,  bearing  and  sig-* 
nificance  of  every  word.  Your  writing  is  bad,  and  never  will  be 
better  until  yon  begin  from  the  beginning,  just  as  if  you  were  a 
child  commencing  to  write;  adopt  for  a  model  a  standard  style, 
Payson  and  Scribner's  nation  il  system  of  penmanship  is  the  best 
and  generally  used  in  this  country.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  is  now 
a  judge,  declared  to  me  that  it  was  owing  to  his  being  a  good 
writer  that  he  got  on  the  bench.  I  think  you  heard  me  tell  of  a 
man  named  Murray  who  graduated  with  first  class  honors  at 
McGill  college;  at  32  he  could  neither  read  nor  write  and  gained 
his  livelihood  by  mending  shoes;  in  a  few'  years  he  was  gold 
medalist  in  medicine  and  took  the  Shakspeare  medal  for  English 
literature  and  English  composition.  I  can  remember  the  day  he 
came  into  my  surgery  with  a  pair  of  shoes  under  his  arm;  he 
was  an  untidy  and  unkempt  specimen  of  humanity.  I  could 
scarcely  keep  from  laughing  when  he  told  me  that  he  wanted  to 
be  a  doctor,  for  on  examination  he  did  not  know  his  letters.  I  ad- 
vised him  to  learn  to  read  and  write  and  then  come  and  see  me 
again.  On  his  return  in  a  few  months  his  progress  was  so  great 
that  I  could  not  help  taking  an  interest  in  him.  He  could  play  a 
little  on  the  violin;  I  advised  him  to  learn  notes  and  take  lessons 
and  learn  the  rudiments  of  music  so  as  to  be  able  to  teach.  He 
had  only  taken  a  few  lessons  when  he  formed  a  ciass  and  was 
learning  and  gaining  money  at  the  same  time.  He  then  got  into 
a  French  college  on  condition  that  he  was  to  teach  music,  for 
which  he  received  board  and  instruction  in  French  and  Latiri; 
so  that  it  was  his  music  that  was  his  actual  stepping  stone  to 
success.  It  is  on  the  same  ground  that  I  advise  you  to  become 
a  good  penman;  as  a  colateral  accomplishment  it  may  get  you 
into  a  lawyer's  office  and  enable  j^ou  to  make  as  good  wages  as 
•what  you  are  at  and  learn  the  practice  of  law  at  the  same  time; 
Since  I  last  wrote  to  you  I  went  out  to  Aston  and  paid  for  Oak 
Hill.  I  must  now  conclude;  with  love  from  all  here,  I  remain, 
your  affectionate  uncle,  R.  I.  Goldsmith."  In  a  letter  before 
leaving  Aston,  he  says  he  believes  that  I  am  in  love  with  one  of 
the  young  ladies  in  Aston,  which  caused  you  to   be  dissatisfied 

with  life  in  the  backwoods.     Elmbrooke,  Jan.  2.     ''Dear  Arthur, 

35 


274  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMEKICA. 

I  enclose  you  a  letter  from  uncle  Richard.  From  what  he  says 
you  will  perceive  that  thing's  will  not  bd  as  you  said.  He  writes 
to  me  .sayinjj  that  he  thinks  Uncle  Jerrold  has  "dropped  us,"  and 
it  looks  very  much  like  it  as  he  does  not  write  to  mj  eitlur. 
You  are  all  right  by  this  time;  I  suppose  you  have  got  a  good 
place,  but  it  is  different  with  me,  and  to  say  the  least,  my  pros- 
pects are  not  promising.  I  also  received  a  note  from  Clifford; 
he  is  to  be  out  in  a  fortnight.  Djvlin  has  not  yet  paid  for  the 
wood  you  chopped.  You  might  have  bearded  out  and  saved 
me  the  trouble  of  sending  those  blankets  to  you.  Your  affec. 
brother,  T.  G.  Howard."  From  a  letter  from  uncle  Richard, 
dated  8th  Feb.  "With  regard  to  the  remarks  I  made  to  you  in 
my  last  letter  you  mu-st  admit  that  your  acts  jusli^jd  .me,  but  as 
I  probably  have  not  been  able  to  see  the  whole  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, I  may  not  have  been  able  to  judge.  Yourself  and  Toni 
were  the  only  persons  I  have  spoken  to.  Clifford  may  have 
read  your  uncle's  letters,  he  made  seme  remark  td  that  effect, 
but  I  know  he  would  never  say  to  a  stranger  thitt  he  thought 
you  crazy.  Mr.  Meredith  dined  here  last  Sunday;  your  name 
was  not  mentioned  in  my  hearing.  Your  uncle  Jerrold  has 
directed  me  to  lease  Oak  Hill  to  your  uncle  Herbert  and  send 
him  the  interest  semi  annually;  you  can  guess  what  that  will 
end  in,  your  uncle  Herbert  will  have  the  use  of  the  lot  and  will 
have  to  pay  the  interest.  .  I  am  glad  to  see  tliat.you  have  been 
so  fortunate  as  to  ,get  such  an  excellent  post,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  but  that  it  will  lead  to  something  better.  Your,  cousin 
Flora  is  living  in  town  and  has  a  very  fine  house  on  Mackay  St.; 
your  aunt  and  Mabel  h  ive  not  been  very  well  this  winter,  but  I 
am  happy  to  say  are  much  better,  they  both  unite  in  love  to  you. 
Since  Clifford  has  come  in  town  he  looks  very  much  paler,  the 
town  air  does  not  agree  with  him;  he  returns  to  the  Elms  shortly 
Your  affec.  uncle,  Richard."  "Dear  Tom,  I  received  your  letter, 
and  thank  you  for  being  so  prompt  in  sending  the. blankets. 
None  of  the  French  people  in  this  little  village  are  rich  enough 
to  furnish  more  than  one  bedroom,  so  I  have  to  furnish  it  my- 
self Mrs.  Gaudette,  my  landlady,  charges  me  40cts.  a  week  for 
lodging  and  cool  ig;  for  washing  I  have  to  pay  25cts.  and  for 
provisions  about  ,^1.75.     I  have  been  very  busy  lately  and  some- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2/5 

times  have  had  to  work  till  1 1  o'clock,  sup,?rintcnding  men,  cov- 
ering bark  piles;  when  I  work  till  1 1  it  counts  for  a  day  and  a 
half,  [his  will  only  last  a  few  weeks  while  the  habitants  are 
rushing  in  their  bark.  Some  days  as  many  as  320  loads  of  bark 
have  bjen  measured,  b:;sidjs  cordvvooJ,  therefore  you  can  see 
tli.it  my  job  of  "wilking  boss"  is  vjry  h  ir J  on  the  legs  an  I 
throat;  I  have  worn  out  a  pair  of  boots  and  trousers  since  I  have 
arrived  and  never  have  more  than  5  hours  sleep  for  the  nights; 
the  bark  does  not  come  in  very  late.  I  go  to  St.  Liborie  and 
take  lessons  in  French  from  the  notary  there.  As  regards  Elm- 
broolve  I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it;  of  course  it  is 
rather  hartl  for  om  to  lose  5  years  hard  work  on  the  place,  but 
I  prefer  doing  this  than  to  be  under  a  co.nplimjnt  to  any  one.  I 
hope  the  Frenchmen  who  are  indebted  to  me  for  farm  produce 
paid  you.  1  perceive  by  your  letter  that  you  have  a  fit  of  the 
blues,  for  which  there  is  no  occ.isio.i.  Wishing  you  the  greatest 
of  success  on  Eimbrooke,  I  remain  your  affectionate  brother,  A. 
N.  Howard."  6th  Feb.  1^82.  "Dear  Uncle,  your  letter  received, 
by  which  I  perceive  that  that  the  deeds  of  Eimbrooke  are  so 
m^de  out  that  I  cannot  transfer  my  half  in  and  of  my  own  accord; 
this,  however,  does  not  affect  iny  decision  of  transferring  my  half 
of  it  in  equal  shares  to  you  and  uncle  Jerrold,  on  account  of  my 
imbility  to  carry  out  your  wishes  and  the  many  obligations  I 
am  under  to  you  boLh,  therefore,  I  would  be  greatly  obliged  to 
you  both  to  do  as  you  please  with  it  and  say  no  more  to  me 
about  it.  I  would  also  deem  it  a  great  favor  of  you  to  discon- 
tinue making  remarks  by  letter  of  your  opinion  of  my  mental 
equilibrium,  which  to  say  the  least, are  not  gentlemanly.  There 
are  too  many  such  foolish  individuals  at  the  present  day,  who,  if 
a  man  goes  out  of  the  beaten  track  of  the  common  herd  of 
humanity  say  he  is  a  crank,  crazy  or  eccentric.  Tom  has,  I  sup- 
pjse,  told  you  of  my  coming  to  St.  Liborie  to  work  for  Bently  & 
Co.  I  now  earn  about  $1.10  a  day,  but  Mr.  S.  has  promised  me 
t!>e  post  of  pan  man  when  the  first  vacancy  occurs,  for  which 
$1.50  is  paid  for  the  easy  occupation  of  sitting  on  a  chair  all  day 
and  testing  the  extract  occasionally  with  a  barkometer,  and  at 
which  I  shall  be  able  to  make  great  progress  at  my  studies.  At 
present  I  find  tinie  enough  to   take   3    lessons   a    week    from    a 


ty6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

French  notary,  I  enclose  $$  to  buy  me  a  French  dictionary 
and  grammar.  I  assure  you  I  Jim  grateful  to  you  for  your  kind 
letters,  which  I  could  hardly  expect  after  the  ungracious  manner 
I  treated  you  and  uncle  Jiirrold;  however,  what  is  passed  can 
never  be  restored,  but  the  present  and  the  future  may  be  pre- 
served. Have  the  the  kindness  to  continue  your  advice  and 
criticisms  and  I  shall  do  my  utmost  to  show  you  that  I  appre- 
ciate them.  If  uncle  Herbert  is  mean  enough  to  take  the  use  of 
Oak  Hill  and  allow  you  to  i  ay  the  interest.  I  shall  make  it  good 
to  you,  but  only  for  the  first  year,  after  which  it  can  be 
sold  or  let  to  some  Frenchman,  who  would  be  only 
too  glad  to  get  the  uac  of  the  place  for  such  a  trifling  sum; 
my  hours  of  work  are  from  7  to  6.  "St.  Liboire,  Feb.  loth. 
Dear  Tom,  yours  reed,  yesterday,  was  sorry  to  hear  that  you 
had  sprained  your  wrist;  the  $$4  that  is  due  to  me  by  the  hab- 
itants, you  can  have  the  use  of  a  yr.  or  so  as,  I  do  not  require  it 
at  present;  your  note  to  me  is  to  be  paid  in  2  yrs.  in  semi  annual 
instalments  commencing  from  the  1 2th  Sept.  '81;  it  certainly 
looks  unfavorable  Uncle  Jerrold  not  writing  to  you,  but  I  am 
confident  that  he  is  too  just  to  make  you  suffer  because  I  dis- 
pleased him,  and  1  am  certain  that  you  and  your  children  (if  you 
ever  get  married)  will  get  my  half  of  the  income  as  well  as  your 
own,  as  he  told  me  when  he  was  in  Canada  that  if  one  of  us  dis- 
pleased him  the  other  would  get  the  whole  portion;  1  also  feel 
confident  that  my  uncles  v^'ill  not  accept  my  half  of  Elmbrooke; 
if  they  offer  to  give  it  to  you,  I  ask  you  as  a  favor  to  accept  it 
without  any  compunctions  of  conscience,  for  I  positively  will 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  place,  and  you  might  as  well 
have  the  bmefit  of  my  five  yrs,  hard  labor  as  Uncle  Herbert;  for 
if  my  uncles  do  not  take  it  it  will  be  given  to  either  you  or  Uncle 
Herbert;  you  ought  not  to  be  discouraged,  for  with  the  double 
income  and  that  estate,  you  will  be  able  to  live  like  a  country 
gentleman,  and  farming  is  rising  every  yr.  -in  the  estimation  of 
the  world,  as  a  profession;  even  my  short  success  on  Oak  Hill 
ought  to  convince  you  that  money  can  be  made  at  it;  I  read  in 
the  paper  the  other  evening  of  a  farmer  near  Montreal  who  made 
$So  clear  profit  from  a  single  acre  of  land:  few  professions  or  man- 
ufacturing enterprises  can  equal  that,  so  be  not  discouraged,  let 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2/7 

you  and  father  live  in  harmony  and  help  each  other  along;  tell 
him  for  me  to  keep  his  valuable  hardwood  timber  as  long  as  he 
can.  for  that  in  5  yrs.  it  will  be  worth  4  times  as  much  as  it  is 
now,  also  to  sow  some  of  his  land  in  potatoes,  and  not  be  airaid 
to  plant  4  or  5  acres,  as  with  Paris  green  and  London  purple  the 
beetles  can  be  easily  kept  from  them,  the  beetles  will  frighten 
many  farmers  from  sowing  a  large  crop,  and  in  consequence 
their  price  will  be  high;  please,  like  a  good  fellow  give  up  even 
a  moderate  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  even  though  you  feel  con- 
fident that  you  will  never  drink  to  excess,  even  a  moderate  use 
of  them  is  a  waste,  for  the  most  eminent  of  chemists  and  physic- 
ians have  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  process  of  making  spir- 
ituous liquors  removes  almost  all  the  nutriment  from  them,  and 
there  is  nothing  in  them  to  benefit  man  either  physically  or 
mentally,  therefore  as  a  useless  habit  it  ought  lo  be  avoided,  and 
still  more  so  for  the  thousands  of  fellow- men  it  destroys."  The 
factory  village  must  look  well  in  Summer  when  the  long  avenue 
of  trees  are  in  leaf;  the  factory  is  quite  close  to  Mr.  Sherman's 
house,  on  the  river  with  a  large  chimney  over  100  ft.  high;  both 
Mr.  aud  Mrs.  S.  treat  me  as  an  old  friend;  Mrs.  S.  showed  me 
their  house,  it  is  the  most  compact  and  snug  little  villa  I  was 
ever  in,  although  in  the  country  it  has  all  the  appearance  of  a 
house  in  the  city,  with  its  chandeliers  and  supply  of  hot  and 
cold  water;  the  large  open  fireplaces  in  ail  the  rooms  has  a  most 
cheerful  and  homelike  appearance;  the  furnace  in  the  cellar  keeps 
the  house  a  warm  and  even  temperature  in  even  the  coldest 
weather;  it  is  .'Surprising  what  beautiful  homes  can  be  had  even  in 
the  country  amongst  farmers,  if  they  only  possessed  more  taste, 
and  were  not  so  indifferent  to  home  comforts;  Mrs.  S.  gave  me 
a  condensed  history  of  her  life,  she  has  great  conversational 
powers,  and  is  an  extraordinarily  well  read  woman,  and  can  con- 
verse on  the  late'st  scientific  discovery  with  as  much  ease  as  on 
the  ordinary  chit  chat  of  a  drawing  room;  I  cannot  say  how 
pleased  I  am  to  meet  a  lady  who  takes  an  interest  in,  and  can 
converse  inielligently  on  the  leading  subjects  of  the  day,  with 
how  much  more  profit  can  a  gentleman  spend  an  evening  in  the 
society  of  such  a  lady  as  this,  than  with  the  average  lady  of  the 
society  of  the  present  day,  who  waste    much   of  their   lives  and 


2/8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

that  of  their  fjentleman  acquaintances  in  conversing  on  lifjht 
vapory  nothings,  this  I  consider  is  much  to  her  credit,  as  all  hjr 
life  she  has  had  vety  dehcate  health;  there  are  large  platforms 
12  ft.  wide  and  lO  ft.  long  to  pile  the  bark  op,  the  platform  is  to 
prevent  the  loss  of  the  small  pieces  of  broken  bark,  and  to  keep 
the  bottom  of  the  piles  from  getting  wet  it  is  piled  in  3  rows  on 
the  platform  15  ft.  high;  I  have  to  make  the  farmers  pile  it  $  ft. 
high  with  the  white  side  of  the  bark  down;  the  reader  can  im- 
agine what  an  unpleasant  task  it  is  to  lun  around  amongst  150 
farmers  who  are  hurrying  as  fast  as  possible  to  unload,  to  pjr- 
.suade  them  to  pile  the  bark  properly  and  report  to  tlie  cashier 
the  names  of  all  those  who  do  n.->t  fulfil  their  contract  by  {>iling 
the  bark  properly  when  they  unload  il;  after  it  is  12  ft.  high  I 
have  a  number  of  men  on  top  of  the  stack  to  receive  and  pile 
the  bark  as  it  is  thrown  Lo  them  by  the  farmers,  and  although  I 
try  to  be  as  courteous  and  good  natured  as  possible,  many  of 
them  swear  at  me  in  a  most  horrible  manner;  Mrs.  S.  says  I  ought 
to  follo'.v  a  commercial  life,  and  hinted  of  my  keeping  a  store 
for  Bentley  and  Co.  at  a  village  where  they  have  paper  factories; 
from  30  to  40  barrels  of  extract  are  t'irned  out  every  24  hrs  ;  in- 
side the  factory  there  are  employed  i  engineer,  i  pui  man,  1  fire 
man,  I  man  to  atter.d  the  leaches,  i  man  to  pitch  the  tan  bark 
out  of  the  leaches,  i  "little  pan  man"  to  keep  the  liquor  running 
properly  through  long  sloping  boxes  with  ice  in  it;  in  running 
through  these  the  sediment  is  removed;  i  boy  to  fill  the  barrels 
from  the  tanks,  one  wood  drawer  to  drav  wood  to  tl^e  furnaces, 
I  bark  drawer  to  haul  the  bark  to  the  miljs  and  i  man  to  feed 
the  mills;  1  boss  cooper  to  examine  the  barrels  before  leaving 
the  factory;  4  teamsters  with  double  teams  to  draw  the  liquor  to 
Arlington  station  and  6  coopers  to  make  barrels  besides  a  hostler 
for  Mr.  S  ,  who  carries  the  mail  and  does  odd  jobs  for  the  fictory 
also  2  carpenters;  Mr.  Holden  is  the  book  keeper  and  cashier, 
and  Mr.  Milton,  the  man  who  manages  their  bark  shanties  for 
them,  and  goes  about  the  country  giving  contracts  for  bark  to 
the  farmers,  and  M.  Alfred  Young  is  'he  clerk  who  meas- 
ures the  bark  and  wood  and  aids  Mr.  Holden  in  shipping  the 
liquoi;  Mr.  Holden's  house  is  richly  furnished,  but  most  of  the 
paintings  and  portraits  are  out  of  proportion  with  the  size  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FKENCH  IN  AMERICA.  2/9 

house,  as  they  arc  legacies  from  his  aunt  in  England  who  owned 
a  large  in.uision;  Mrs.  Holden  is  a  sister  of  Mr,  Milton  who  has 
married  a  French  girl;  iloldjn  h:is  3  children;  Mr.  Walts  who 
m, mages  the  Cos.  store  has  a  wife  and  only  one  of  his  daugh- 
ter-;. Lving  with  iiim,  Miss  Kite  Watts  whose  name  I  have  al- 
ready mjiUionjd  in  my  journal  at  Aston,  so  in  all  there  are  4 
English  fimilie-;;  Mrs.  S  said  she  would  hive  had  me  board  at 
tiieir  housj  had  not  her  health  been  so  poorly,  nothing  can  ex 
ceed  the  kind  m  inn^^r  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sherman  since  1  have  ar: 
rived  here.  S-'iit  Florence  a  beautiful  birth  day  card  on  the 
29th  Jan.  The  factory  uses  aiout  30  cords  of  bark  a  day;  on 
SuntJay  afternoons  I  t.ike  an  occasional  stroll  out  in  the  country 
towards  St.  Auj;ustin,  for  j)irt  of  the  way  is  very  hilly  with  steep 
ravines  150  ft  deep;  most  of  the  farmers  here  derive  great  profit 
from  the  money  paid  out  by  the  Co.  ior  bark,  cordwood,  stove- 
Wood  and  labor;  Mrs.  S.  invited  me  to  dinner  and  to  spend  the 
evening  at  their  iiouse  while  Mrs.  Bjntley  was  there,  a  very 
haiidsome  lady  with  a  fine  figure  approaching  embonpoint,  has 
inherited  all  her  mother's  intellect,  and  is  a  lady  of  the  highest 
culture  with  very  graceful  and  unaffected  manners;  she  gave  mp 
a  nice  description  of  Cha/lesboury  and  the  different  classes  of» 
society  in  it,  that  there  are  criy  500  English  people  there  who 
are  divided  a  nongst  3  churches,  PresLyterians,  Episcopalians 
and  Methodists;  while  I  am  writing  this  my  landlady  and  her 
husband  are  saying  their  prayers  at  a  terrible  rate,  some  of  them 
they  repeat  as  often  as  7  times,  which  seems  to  me  absurd;  I 
suppose  they  e.xpect  by  constantly  repeating  them  to  tire  out  , 
the  patience  of  their  God  and  make  him  consent;  Mrs.  S-  says 
that  we  shall  drive  in  their  carriage  to  Charlesbourg  next  Summer 
which  1  shall  greatly  enjoy  as  I  always  take  great  pleasure  in 
seeincr  new  scenery  and  new  faces.  The  other  evening  while  Mr. 
Gmdette  was  praying  some  very  long  prayers  that  required  much 
repjtition,  he  indulged  in  an  occasional  remark  in  the  conver- 
sation going  on  between  his  wife  and  myself,  and  then  indulged 
in  a  joke  which  made  us  all  laugh  heartily,  still  at  the  same  time 
I  could  not  avoid  thanking  that  such  prayers  as  those  were  not 
in  harmony  with  the  precepts  and  comrnandments  of  the  founder  of 
Christianity,  Christ;  had   a  pleasant  evening  skating  with  Miss 


280  HIPTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Watt  and  Johnny  Morrisson  on  the  St.  Norbert  river;  Johnny  is  a 
son  of  J.  Y.  Morrisson  of  Preston,  whose  wife  died  several  yr.i.  ago. 
since  which  Mrs.  S.  has  taken  charge  of  him;  Mr.  S.  had  to  act 
as  a  witness  in  a^recent  boiler  explosion  in  which  a  mill  proprie- 
tor sued  a  boiler  Co.  for  damages  thro  the  explosion  of  a  new 
boiler  bought  from  them  which  was  guaranteed  to  stand  a  certain 
amount  of  lbs.  of  steam  but  failed  to  do  so;  I  perfectly  agree  with 
Mrs.  S.  that  Mr.  Middleton  and  A.  Young  have  associated  so 
constantly  and  long  with  French  Canadians  that  they  have  become 
completely  Can«dianized  in  their  conversation  and  manners; 
Young  often  goes  to  see  ihe  French  girls  which  Mrs.  S.  does  not 
like;  Mr.  S.  is  so  economical  that  he  does  not  keep  a  watchman 
for  the  factory  on  Sunday  but  goes  to  see  that  all  is  right  him- 
self; the  tan  bark  is  carried  by  an  endless  chiin  from  the  mills 
into  the  leaches  and  after  the  juice  is  extracted  the  bark  pitcher 
empties  it  thro  a  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  leach  on  to  another 
endless  chain  that  carries  it  over  the  furnaces  where  there  are  holes 
in  the  brick  work  covered  with  iron  covers  which  the  fireman  re- 
moves occasionally  and  shovels  in  tan  bark  which  saves  a  great 
deal  of  fuel,  but  too  much  of  this  damp  cannot  be  thrown  in  at 
one  time  for  it  would  deaden  the  fires;  Mr.  S.  has  shown  me  his 
studio  where  he  has  a  great  number  of  paintings  and  water  colors 
by  himself,  some  of  his  English  landscapes  are  really  beautiful; 
some  of  his  paints  and  colors  cost  as  much  as  60s,  an  ounce; 
Mrs.  S.  lends  me  all  the  English  newspapers  and  magazines  they 
take;  I  am  especially  interested  in  the  "Truth,"  a  fashionable  rad- 
ical journal;  bread,  potatoes,  pork  and  tea  is  my  usual  fare;  I 
sometimes  drink  koka  but  think  it  has  a  mawkish  taste  as  com- 
pared with  cocoa,  chocolate,  tea  or  coffee.  The  doctor  of  the  vil- 
lage lives  in  a  plain  wooden  house  and  his  personal  appearance 
is  worse,  he  has  a  very  red  face  and  bloated  figure  altho  not  more 
than  30  yrs;  his  wife  is  very  handsome  but  has  a  sad,  careworn 
appearance  in  her  face  that  is  pitiable  to  behold;  while  at  Dissett's 
store  one  of  the  loafers  there  made  a  vile  remark  on  the  doctor's 
character  which  brought  a  tell  tale  blush  npon  his  face  and  he 
laughed  uneasily  to  aftect  an  indifference  that  I  know  he  did  not 
feel.  Mr.  Beniley  has  been  here  and  said  that  the  farmers  who 
had  taken  contracts  for  drawing  bark  would  have  to  be  hurried 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  28 1 

up;  have  had  so:ne  very  cold  weather  lately  as  low  as  30  deg.  be- 
low zero.     From  a  letter  to  Rev.   L.  C.  W.  please   find  enclosed 
my  weekly  subscription  to  St.  Mark's  church   for  the  2    months 
ending  Feb.  i.     From  a  letter  to  Tom,  do  not  refuse  my  half  of 
Elmbrook^^  if  it  is  offcired  to  you  for  nothing  would  give  me  greater 
pleasure  tiian  to  see  you  in  possession  of  the  whole  estate;  you 
cannot  now  complain  for  want  of  snow  for  we  have  it  now  in  abun- 
dance much  to  my  disgust  in  the  mornings  when  I   have  to  get 
the  men  to  shovel  it  ofif  of  platforms   1000  ft.  long;  I  have  had  a 
very  hard  time  of  it  for  the  last  2  weeks,  the  farmers  in  their  hurry 
to  get  in  their  bark  are  very  unreasonable,  I    have  to   keep  on  a 
brisk  w-ilk  all  day  from  7  to  6  amongst  150  teamsters  and  never 
take  more  than  20  minutes  to  dine.     I  have  been  very  poorly  of 
Lite  with  a  cough  and  pain  in  my  chest;  I  need  not  inquire  about 
fathers    health    as    he    has    not    had  a  days  ill  health  in  5  yrs. 
Sunday  26  Feb.  the  average  cost  of  my  weekly  board  for  the  last 
6  weeks  has  only  averaged ;$[. 30  a  week.  I  had  a  fight  with  one  of 
the  farmers,  he  flung  his  bark  on  the  ground  any  way   without 
piling  it,  I  asked  him  polite'y  to  come  back  and  do  so,  he  replied 
only  with  oaths  and  filthy  names,  I  started  for  him  and  just  as  I 
got  near  his  sleigh  received  from  him  a  blow  on  the  head  with  a 
stick  out  of  the  rack  of  his  sleigh  which  almost  stunned  me  and 
before  I  knew  where  I  was  we  were  engaged  in  a  rough  and  tumble 
fight,  I  found  to  my  disgust  that  I  had  caught  a  tartar,  for  the 
dirty  brute  caught  hold  of  my  ear  with  his  teeth   and   had  I  not 
immediately  placed  my  2  thumbs  on  his  wind  pipe  and  choked 
him  off  I  am  confident  he  would  have  bitten  off  a  piece  of  my  ear, 
hostilities  now  ceased  and  I  went  to  the  office  and  told  the  cashier 
to  deduce  25  cts  from  the  price  of  his  load,  which  he  did;  415 
loads  came  in  that  day.     Mrs.  Bentley  owns  18000  acres  of  land 
in  her  own  name.     The  priest  of  this  parish  is  the  only  one  that 
is  allowed  to  sell  spirituous  liquors;  he  only  sells  it  in  small  quan- 
tities for  medicinal  purposes.    From  a  letter  to  uncle  Richard,  as 
regards  my  leaving  father  and  Tom  the  circumstonces  I  think  jus- 
tified my  doing  so,  firstly  because  I  believed  I  could  succeed  bet- 
ter elsewhere  and  secondly  because  you  and  I  could  never  agree 
as  to  how  we  should  conduct  our  business;  from  the  picture  you 
drew  in  your  letter  you  must  think  I  acted  in   a  most   heartless 

36  ' 


282  •      HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

manner,  you  say  I  left  an  afflicted  brother  and  helpless  father  to 
get  on  'Ji^  best  they  could,  if  I  did  leave  them  it  was  in  comforta- 
ble and  easy  circumstances;  I  left  rny  brother  with  a  fine  farm  all 
paid  for,  good  buildings,  stock,  implements,  plenty  of  fodder, 
grain,  buckwheat  and  vegetables  and  ^$50  in  money,  and  I  myself, 
when  I  arrived  at  the  end  of  my  destination  had  only  25  cts.  I 
must  say  if  you  consider  me  heartless  in  acting  thus  that  you  en- 
tertain a  most  false  and  unjust  view  of  the  case,  and  as  regards 
leaving  a  helpless  father,  he  has  a  ;$iooo  farm,  stock,  fodder,  im- 
plements, comfortable  residence,  etc.  and  only  owed  $18;  I  think 
if  there  was  any  one  to  pity  that  it  is  myself  for  having  lost  5  yrs 
of  my  life  in  the  backwoods  without  any  benefit  to  mysell;  if  I 
did  take  a  note  from  lorn  for  my  half  of  the  stock,  implements, 
furniture^  library,  etc.,  this  surely  was  the  least  I  should  get  after 
5  yrs  hard  work,  besides  ^100  of  the  note  he  gave  me  was  money 
I  advanced  the  firm  when  we  first  went  into  partnership  6  yrs  ago, 
and  this  is  all  I  have  to  pay  whatever  I  owe  you  and  make  my 
first  deposit  towards  college  expenses;  if  however  Tom  is  in  need 
of  it  I  shall  give  it  to  him;  since  I  have  arrived  here  nothing  can 
exceed  the  kindness  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  Mr.  S.  has  kindly  p  om- 
ised  to  try  and  get  me  the  position  of  bookkeeper  in  one  ot  l^eiit- 
ley  &  Go's  factories  at  a  salary  of  600  a  yr.  I  enclose  you  ;$2  to 
get  me  "Havet's  French  Manual;"  the  week  before  last  the  factory 
here  was  flooded,  the  ice  on  the  St.  Herbert  river  being  obstruct- 
ed by  rocks  below  the  factory  which  flooded  the  villag."  to  a  depth 
of  5  ft.  1  have  still  a  bad  cold  caused  by  going  thro  the  heavy 
masses  of  ice  and  water  to  one  of  the  factory  buildings  to  attach 
a  rope  to  a  fire  engine  to  drag  it  ashore  and  to  aid  Mr.  S.  to  stop 
the  engines  and  let  the  steam  out  of  the  boilers  before  the  water 
rose  over  them  which  kept  me  2  hours  in  wet  and  icy  clothes. 
Mr.  S.  is  a  very  cool  and  brave  man  and  was  greatly  disgusted  at 
the  cowardice  of  the  French  employees  who  were  afraid  to  enter 
the  factory  but  I  must  acknowledge  I  myself  felt  great  fear  but 
was  ashamed  to  show  it,  whert  the  buG^e  masses  of  ice  20  ft.  hiij^h 
piled  one  upon  ♦^he  other  dashed  against  the  wall  of  the  factory, 
breaking  the  thick  timbers  as  if  they  were  so  many  straws,  and 
causing  loud  explosions  as  the  water  rushed  thro  the  red  hot 
furnaces;  the  Co.  will  lose  several  thousand  dollars.  Aston,  March 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.        .  283 

2d,  "Dear  Arthur,  I  was  glad  to  receive  a  letter  from  you  and  I 
hope  that  you  will  succeed  well,  you  arc  youn^  and  active  and 
perseverance  will  tell  in  the  end,  especially  where  you  recognize 
the  eye  of  God  over  you;  I  am  pleased  to  know  that  you  still 
take  an  interest  in  our  little  church;  your  cousin  ICthel  Goldsmith 
i  >  still  spending-  a  week  at  the  parsonage  with  Mabel.  Florence 
Meredith  has  not  returned  from  her  tour  among  her  friends,  Maud 
is  improving  slowly  but  has  to  be  veiy  careful;  we  are  all  well 
and  jo"n  in  kind  regards  to  you,  may  God  bless  you,  yours  truly, 
L.  C.  VVilloughby.  "My  dear  Arthur  I  reed  yours  of  the  2 1st 
ulto.  and  would  have  answered  sooner  but  have  been  very  much 
occupied  lately  in  m  iking  an  exchange  for  my  farm  the  Elms, 
with  a  French  Canadian  for  some  cottages  in  the  city;  you  know 
wh.it  a  tedious  people  they  are  to  do  business  with;  I  get  4  cot* 
tages  and  a  vacant  lot  for  the  Elms  farm  as  it  stands,  land,  houses, 
implements,  stock,  furniture,  beds,  bedding,  crockery,  cutlery, 
stoves,  etc.,  reserving  the  library,  pictures,  guns,  fishing  tackle, 
and  a  young  horse  and  I  pay  him  $4,(^00;  the  purchaser,  Mr. 
Barort,  has  a  mighty  soft  thing  of  it,  but  since  Clifford  left  it  I 
found  it  an  elephant  on  my  hands  and  was  glad  to  get  rid  of  it. 
There  is  this  difference  in  my  present  position;  the  cottages 
will  bring  in  some  return  and  the  l^lms  cost  me  ;$6oo  a  yr  to  run 
it;  you  savin  your  letter  that  I  and  your  uncle  could  sell  your 
half  of  Elmbrooke,  1  have  no  right  or  claim  to  do  so,  as  your 
Uncie  Jerrold  is  the  only  one  that  could  sell  it,  and  I  am  sure  he 
never  will  nor  intends  to;  for  the  last  30  yrs.  he  has  been  advan- 
cing money  to  your  family,  influenced  only  by  motives  of  brother- 
ly love  to  your  dear  mother,  the  same  love  and  bounty  he  has 
contioned  to  your  brother  and  yourself,  and  you  abandoned  the 
place  and  left  your  poor  afflicted  brother  and  helpless  father,- 
but  now  that  Torn  has  possession  of  the  place  and  has  manful- 
ly djtermi  ed  to  remain  on  it,  should  you  ever  be  sick  or  the 
hand  of  affliction  placed  on  you  I  have  no  doubt  you  would  find 
a  home  and  a  weltome  from  hitn;  Aston  is  one  of  the  healthiest 
spots  in  the  world,  that  is  why  I  sent  my  dear  son  Richard  there 
to  recuperate  his  health,  and  that  was  one  of  the  reasons  your 
dear  mother  lived  there;  every  one  of  your  brothers  and  sisters 
died  in  London  before  your  parents  went  to  live  there,  and  be- 


284  -       HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

fore  you  went  there  you  were  so  frail  and  delicate  that  I  did  not 
think  it  possible  for  you  to  live;  it  was  from  congestion  of  the 
spine  that  Tom  lost  the  use  of  his  leg.  And  now  that  the  pomps 
and  vanities  of  this  world  have  induced  you  to  seek  your  fortune 
in  pastures  new  and  untrodden,  may  your  Heavenly  Father  pro- 
tect you  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your  affectionate  uncle,  R.  I.  Gold- 
smith. P,  S.,  your  aunt  and  Mabel  are  well  and  unite  in  love," 
"Dear  Tom,  I  reed,  your  letter  yesterday  and  am  greatly  sur- 
prised with  its  contents,  you  ask  me  "to  settle  up  like  a  man,"  a 
difference  in  my  expenditures  compared  with  yours  while  I  lived 
on  Elmbrooke;  you  say  the  accounts  prove  that  I  spend  more 
on  clothes  than  you  did,  what  if  I  did,  do  you  think  I  will  pay 
you  for  some  trifling  extra  amount  I  spent  on  clothes  more  than 
you  did  while  I  was  pulling  stumps,  clearing  land  and  digging 
ditches  on  the  land  that  you  are  now  having  the  use  of  for 
nothing,  and  will  eventually  posess  as  your  own;  I  positively  tell 
you  that  I  never  shall,  for  it  would  be  a  clear  proof  that  one  How- 
ard was  becoming  a  fool  and  the  other  a  rogue;  1  can  honestly 
say  from  my  heart  that  I  will  in  my  straightened  circumstances 
help  you  and  father  as  much  as  I  possibly  can  after  li.  ving  paid 
my  just  debts  to  Uncle  Jerrold  and  Richard,  for  I  never  mtend 
to  die  I  cent  in  their  debt,  but  to  pay  a  cent  for  any  of  the  cloihes 
or  food  I  used  during  the  7  yrs.  1  worked  on  Elmbrooke  I  never 
shall,  but  will  appeal  to  my  uncles,  in  whose  justice  I  have  great 
confidence,  but  were  such  a  thing  possible  that  they  should  de- 
cide against  me,  justice  I  can  easily  get  elsewhere,  exactly  7  yrs. 
ago  I  commenced  working  on  Elmbrooke  with  ^160  of  my  own, 
you  commenced  without  a  cent,  to-day  I  have  only  your  note 
for  two  hundred  odd  dollars,  and  you  have  the  whole  of  )'our 
own  and  my  labor  as  well  as  the  half  of  the  estate,  and  yet  you 
are  actually  mean  and  foolish  enough  to  think  you  can  make  me 
pay  for  clothes  I  wore  out  in  clearing  the  land  that  you  now  own 
and  cultivate  free  of  cost;  for  those  7  yrs.  I  bore  "the  burdai  and 
heat  of  the  day"  and  did  more  than  a  partners  share  of  work, 
working  harder  than  the  average  farmer  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  and  am  proud  of  those  7  yrs,  of  industry  and  economy, 
even  though  I  reap  no  benefit,  my  brother  will;  I  would  never 
have  mentioned  this  had  not  your  meanness  driven  me  to  it,   so 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA,  285 

now  my  dear  Tom  I  think  you  can  understand  me  on  this  sub- 
ject; firstly  that  I  have  decided  to  pay  all  money  obligations  that 
I  may  owe  my  uncles,  secondly  that  if  they  refuse  to  take  my 
half  of  Elinbrooke  I  give  it  to  you,  and  thirdly,  that  you  will 
never  mention  this  subject  to  me  again."  "Dear  Mrs.  Meredith, 
In  a  letter  I  reed,  from  Tom  a  few  days  ago  he  informed  me  that 
you  were  surprised  at  my  leaving  Aston  without  bidding  you 
good-bye,  which  certainly  I  should  have  done,  but  I  am  willing 
to  apoligize  for  this  breach  of  etiquette  and  trust  you  will  pardon 
it,  I  assure  you  it  was  not  because  I  had  forgotten  the  great 
kindness  and  friendship  I  have  experienced  from  you,  but  mere- 
ly because  circumstances  unavoidably  prevented  me,  and 
caused  me  to  commit  this  act  of  discourtesey  to  you, 
whom  I  have  always  considered  as  one  of  rny  best  and  truest 
friends,  however.  I  entertain  the  hope  that  in  a  few  yrs.  I  shall 
have  the  pleasure  of  spending  many  pleasant  evenings  with  you 
and  your  family,  until  then  I  shall  always  think  with  gratitude  of 
your  generous  hearted  hospitality,  that  ever  extended  to  me  a 
cordial  welcome  to  enjoy  the  society  of  your  family  and  friends, 
wishing  you  and  yours  every  success  and  happiness  I  remain, 
your  affectionate  friend,  A.  N.  Howard,"  I  have  such  a  pain  in 
my  chest  and  a  bad  cold  that  Mr.  S.  excused  me  from  work  to- 
day; it  is  no  wonder  I  have  had  a  bad  cough  for  the  last  7  weeks 
after  so  much  hardship  and  exposure,  the  Dr.  agrees  with  Dr. 
R.  of  Quebec  that  my  right  lung  is  very  weak  and  that  I  must 
be  careful,  avoiding  sudden  changes  of  temperature.  On  re- 
turning Mrs.  Gaudette  said  the  piiest  could  have  cured  me  better 
than  the  doctor,  also  told  me  that  a  priest  can  stop  a  fire  or  flood 
and  can  even  if  necessary  bring  to  life  a  dead  man;  Mrs.  Bobaire 
a  neighbor  of  Mrs.  G's.  is  a  great  gossip,  her  eldest  son  is  only 
13  3'rs.  of  age,  yet  I  never  saw  such  a  vicious  looking  young  ras- 
cal in  all  my  life,  he  has  been  accused  of  crimes  that  would  even 
make  a  wicked  man  shudder,  Mrs.  S.  very  truly  says  that  he  has 
eyes  like  a  serpent.  17th  March,  lovely  weather,  sun  rather  too 
hot  for  snow  roads  to  last  for  any  length  of  time;  while  at  Mr. 
Sherman's  house  Mrs.  Bentley  told  me  that  she  had  met  Flor- 
ence Meredith  at  a  Calico  ball  that  was  given  at  Charlesbourg, 
Mrs.  Holden  also  spent  the  evening  there,  but  appears   to  be  of 


286  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

the  opinion  that  gravity  and  silence  with  affectation  is  the  heifjht 
of  gentility,  and  formed  a  great  contrast  to  the  easy  and  graceful 
converation  and  depoitment  of  Mrs.  S.  and  Mrs.  B.,  Mrs.  li.  kind- 
ly invited  me  to  go  and  see  her  at  Charlesbourg;  how  the  cur- 
tain rises  and  falls,  and  the  actors  change  their  positions  on  this 
world's  stage,  exactly  14  yrs.  ago  this  accomplished  lady  was  the 
daughter  of  a  settler  in  the  backwoods,  to-day  in  her  own  right 
and  name  she  is  worth  $50,000,  she  dresses  in  the  heiglit  of  fash- 
ion and  I  must  say  has  a  fine  appparance,  her  frank,  benevolent 
features  with  sparkling  intellic^cnt  eyes  and  the  unaffected  grace 
of  her  deportment,  with  her  well  cultivated  conversational  powers 
makes- her  society  truly  delightful.  Dined  at  Mrs.  Sherman's 
on  Sunday,  the  dinner  consisted  of  roast  turkey,  vegetables, 
sauces,  jellies  bread  and  butter,  pastry,  preserves,  and  tea;  while 
spending  an  evening  at  Mr.  Sherman's  we  had  a  lengtliy  con- 
versation on  political  economy  and  religion,  Mr.  S.  believes  that 
rich  people  are  perfectly  justified  in  buying  rich  jewels,  laces, 
pearls  &c.;  I  atlirmed  that  any  gentleman  or  lady  who  would 
spend  several  thousand  dollars  to  gratify  their  barborous  vanity 
in  wearing  apparel  were  sinning  ag.u'nst  themselves,  their  fellow- 
men  and  future  generations,  that  ideas  that  encouraged  poor 
women  to  sacrifice  their  eye-sight  and  a  whole  life  time  over  a 
fdw  pieces  of  miniture  lace  work  were  to  say  the  least  vain  and 
selfish,  and  that  all  reasonable  men  ought  to  acknowledge  that 
no  man  has  a  right  to  keep  expensive  shooting  preserves,  while 
his  fellow-countrymen  are  leaving  their  native  land  for  want  of 
a  piece  of  ground  to  call  their  own,  I  maintained  that  all  those 
who  spend  their  money  or  time  extravagantly  without  first  con- 
sidering the  most  profitable  and  useful  means  of  using  it,  were 
from  a  rational  and  even  christian  point  of  view,  committing  a 
sin  by  not  using  their  talents  and  gifts  to  the  best  advantage; 
Mr.  S.  from  his  expressed  opinion  clearly  shows  that  he  dojs  not 
believe  in  eternal  punishment,  as  regards  all  the  sorrow  and  sin 
tn  the  world,  1  said  that  some  Christians  argued  that  the  exis- 
tence of  sorrow  was  necessary  for  joy,  that  repose  is  not  fully  ap- 
pieciated  until  fatigue  has  been  fully  experienced,  and  that  sor- 
row is  as  necessary  to  the  world  as  are  the  darker  shades  to  a 
perfect  painting;  in  reference   to  gentlemen  I    said,  that  half  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  '         28/ 

.so-ailletl  gentlemen  of  society  were  not  gentlemen  at  heart,  that 
they  only  possessed  the  outer  polish  for  social  occasions,  and 
that  at  other  times  they  were  actually  selfish  and  even  brutal, 
that  a  man  who  is  only  polite  to  ladies  and  who  would  not  put 
himself  to  inconvenience  to  perform  an  act  of  courtesy  to  a  poor 
woman,  should  no  more  be  called  a  gentleman  than  gold  plated 
ware  should  be  called  true  metal,  that  another  more  worthy  spec- 
i  lien  of  man  is  th-j  thoroughly  kind-hearted  man  who  has  all 
the  natural  qualities  of  a  gentleman  and  that  delicacy  of  feeling 
that  prevents  him  from  hurting  the  feeling  of  others,  yet  this  man 
with  all  his  delicacy  of  feeling  and  unselfishness  of  soul  cannot 
be  called  a  gentleman  if  he  does  not  possess  the  necessary  amount 
of  education  and  outward  polish.  While  the  factory  is  stopped 
1  am  watchman  so  that  I  lose  no  time,  I  have  to  keep  ten  furnacea 
and  3  stoves  going  to  keep  the  brick  work  and  pipes  from  getting 
frozen;  the  water  rose  gy^z  ^^-  i'l  the  factory.  A  great  scandal  has 
occurred  here  lately,  Mrs.  Defosa,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Gaudette,  has 
left  her  husband  and  charges  him  with  drunkenness,  jealousy  and 
laziness,  the  3  greatest  faults  a  husband  could  have;  the  priest 
came  on  Sund.iy  and  tried  to  persuade  her  to  return  but  this  she 
refused  to  do;  said  she  would  go  to  him  during  the  week  and 
confess  to  him  all  about  it;  she  told  hiiTi  with  tenrs  in  her  eyes 
that  if  she  was  to  be  damned  she  might  as  well  be  so  quietly  alone 
than  with  her  husband,  for  she  said  I  can  never  fulfill  my  religious 
duties  while  I  live  with  him;  I  advised  Defosa  to  give  up  drink 
and  try  and  win  back  the  respect  and  affection  of  his  wife  and 
that  I  would  persuade  Mr.  S.  to  give  him  the  custom  of  the  fac- 
tory; he  is  a  blacksmith  by  trade.  Have  pkiyed  checkers  French 
st)'le  with  many  of  the  best  player.^  in  these  parts.  Mrs.  S.  has  a 
choice  selection  of  the  works  of  all  the  leading  poets,  which  she 
kindly  lent  to  me.  Mr.  S.  is  quite  indignant  at  the  masons  who 
do  not  want  to  build  the  brick  work  on  what  they  call  a  "rotten 
founddtion."  Mr.  S.  says  he  will  sacrifice  good  workmanship  for 
the  sake  of  getting  extract  to  supply  the  Go's  customers.  In  many 
points  on  the  inconsistencies  of  the  christian  churches  Mr.  S.  and 
1  agree.  Mrs.  Gaudette  was  going  to  have  her  daughter  sleep  up 
stairs  in  a  garret;  I  of  course  would  not  allow  such  an  arrangement 
and  said  I  would  vacate  my  corner  of  the  undivided  room  down 


288  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

stairs;  I  have  in  fact  in  some  small  houses  seen  as  many  as  4  beds 
in  one  undivided  room  whicli  formed  bed  rooms,  dining  room, 
living  room,  kitchen  and  reception  room.  This  neighborhood  is 
divided  into  2  parties,  one  takes  Djfosa's  and  the  other  his  wife's 
part,  the  latter  call  Defosa  a  "sans  coeur"  for  not  leaving  the  coun- 
try instead  of  trying  to  oblige  his  wife  to  return  to  him.  i  March, 
has  rained  hard  all  day,  my  gang  of  20  men  in  tlie  morning  has 
diminished  to  l  in  the  evening,  and  no  wonder  for  flesh  and  blood 
does  not  relish  the  discomfort  of  being  like  a  half  drowned  rat  all 
day,  still  of  course  as  the  farmers  continued  to  arrive  witli  loads 
of  bark  we  had  to  remain  out  in  the  rain  to  pile  it.  Dun  and  Mar- 
tin, the  2  engineers,  and  myself  have  been  removing  the  rust  from 
the  engines  and  machinery  and  oiling  it;  after  the  flood  had  sub- 
sided the  bark  contractors  made  a  road  across  the  river  by  chop- 
ping away  the  huge  blocks  of  ice  and  pouring  water  on  the  broken 
places  at  night  to  have  them  freeze  over.  Mrs.  S.  is  very  sick. 
One  of  the  factory  hands  has  died  from  congestion  of  the  lungs. 
Mr.  S.  says  that  a  love  for  painting  apart  from  the  money  gained 
by  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  good  artist.  Mr.  S.  and  1  took  a 
drive  to  Arlington  by  a  new  route,  passed  chiefly  through  low 
land  covered  with  tamerac,  balsam  and  spruce  not  over  30  ft.  high, 
also  a  small  collection  of  houses  with  a  very  handsoaie  church  of 
cut  stone  ana  over  3  streams  that  run  into  the  Brisbois  river,  in 
which  he  says  there  are  trout  and  proposes  that  I  shall  go  fishing 
and  boating  with  him  next  summer  in  his  Indian  canoe.  This 
factory  ships  extract  to  many  countries  in  Europe  but  chiefly  to 
the  U.  S,  and  England;  one  of  the  partners  is  a  Mr.  Yankton  of 
Boston.  Its  average  expense  for  merely  the  bark  and  wood  it 
buys  and  labor  is  ^225  a  day.  l  March,  Davenport,  dear  Arthur, 
'T  have  been  working  here  with  my  team  drawing  bark;  I  could 
have  got  $40  a  month  from  the  log  shanties  but  the  work  would 
have  been  too  hard;  I  make  here  1^3.50  a  day  so  that  if  good  roads 
continue  I  shall  clear  a  few  dollars;  uncle  Richard  and  Clifford 
have  been  out  since  you  lefc;  the  ties  I  sold  to  the  rly  Co.  have 
not  yet  been  culled  or  paid  for;  some  weeks  the  roads  are  so  bad 
that  I  can  only  team  3  days  at  a  time.  Montreal  28th  March, 
from  uncle  Richard:  "The  money  your  uncle  Jerrold  advanced 
to  you  I  do  not  think  he  will  ever  allow  you  to  repay  it,  his  only 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  289 

object  was  to  aid  you  and  Tom  to  make  Elmbrooke  a  permanent 
home  for  you  both;  when  I  write  to  him  I  shall  have  much  pleas- 
ure in  doinjT  as  you  advise.  In  a  letter  to  uncle  Richard  I  ex- 
plained how  Tom  unjustly  wanted  me  to  pay  for  extra  clothing 
1  used  while  working  on  Elmbrooke.  In  a  letter  to  Tom  I  said 
tell  father  that  he  ought  to  remember  I  am  his  son  even  tho  lam 
not  his  eldest  one,  and  that  I  feel  hurt  at  the  way  he  has  neglected 
me,  that  I  am  not  jealous  but  that  I  do  not  think  it  looks  well 
for  him  to  give  you  all  his  advise  and  counsel  for  the  past  6  yrs. 
and  take  hardly  any  notice  of  me.  In  conversation  one  evening 
at  Mr.  Watts  he  said  that  this  world  would  be  better  and  happier 
if  there  miver  had  been  any  form  of  religion  in  it,  altho  most  re- 
ligions have  been  the  cause  of  great  atrocities  still  we  should  be 
impartial  enough  to  give  them  credit  for  whatever  good  they  have 
done. '  Wrote  a  long  letter  to  Angelica,  my  cousin  in  Salford, 
England,  giving  a  brief  review  of  the  events  that  occurred  to  me 
during  the  past  9  months,  and  wrote  as  follows:  "Mr.  L.  C.  Wil- 
loughby's  id  wife  is 'an  American  lady  and  not  liked  by  some  of 
his  parishoners,  however  in  my  opinion  she  is  an  amiable  lady 
and  perfectly  fitted  for  the  difficult  position  she  holds,  that  of  be- 
ing a  poor  clergyman's  wife,  his  daughter  is  no  longer  a  child 
but  is  an  interesting  and  intelligent  young  lady  and  is  apparently 
religiously  inclined;  I  have  only  once  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
Canon  Baldwin  preach  and  was  much  impressed  by  his  earnest- 
ness which  is  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  formal  and  automatic 
sermons  of  a  great  portion  of  the  Catholic  and  Episcopal  clergy; 
many  thanks  for  the  photo  of  the  beautiful  park  like  landscape 
'aboAJt  your  residence;  the  F  Canadians  will,  I  fear,  admire  the 
beauty  of  ornamental  trees  when  it  is  too  late,  for  their  settlements 
Hay^  generally  a  bare  and  uninterestingappearance  through  their 
Wavi/t  of 'taste  in  destroying  all  the  forest  and  not  even  planting 
an  ocdasional  ornamental  tree  to  take  its  place."  From  a  letter 
from  Clifford  April  3d:  **I  have  owed  you  a  letter  for  some  time 
and  have  kept  off  answering  it  from  one  cause  or  another  hence 
the  delay;  how  do  you  like  your  present  occupation;  I  suppose 
you  wont  be  so  busy  how  that  the  snow  is  gone;  the  weather  is 
nice  and  mild  here  now  and  the  snow  is  going  fast  and  the  street 

cars  running  on  wheels;  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  there  is  a  proba- 

37 


990  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

bility  of  your  becomincj  a  bookkeeper  for  one  of  Bentley  &  Go's 
factories;  I  suppose  tliis  h.»s  been  a  bad  winter  for  lumberinf^  as 
there  has  been  so  little  snow  and  the  roads  have  been  so  much 
broken  up  by  thaws;  I  go  to  the  gymnasium  here  as  often  as  I 
can  to  keep  my  muscle  up;  the  Oxford  crew  has  won  the  boat 
race  by  6  lengths,  this  is  the  3d  yr  they  have  beaten  Cambridge 
in  succession;  there  are  a  gre  it  many  emigrants  coming  out  from 
England  to  Manitoba  this  summer;  they  say  that  the  prairies  of 
the  northwest  are  capable  of  su[)porting  a  population  of  50  million; 
one  batch  of  settlers  have  just  left  Liverpool,  Kng.  bringing  ^145,- 
000  with  them;  the  opening  of  the  northwest  will  be  a  grand  thing 
for  Montreal  as  most  of  its  exports  will  flow  thro  this  port.  The 
Canadian  Pacific  RIy  will  be  finished  D.  V.  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains by  next  fall,  Tom  says  seed  oats  sells  at  Aston  for  45  cts. 
a  bushel  this  spring.  Mr.  S.  informed  me  that  he  intends  to  let 
me  take  Dun's  place  as  engineer  when  he"  goes  to  St.  Augustin 
to  quarry  a  channel  in  the  bank  of  the  river  for  a  pulp  factory 
there;  have  conversed  about  religion  with  one  of  the  brick  layers 
in  the  factory,  he  believes  in  the  persevering  powers  of  the  "scap- 
ular," which  he  says  preserves  men  from  drowning  when  they 
fall  into  water:  I  laughingly  told  him  that  according  to  statistics 
as  many  Catholics  were  drowned  as  Protestants;  told  him  I  was 
thoroughly  disgusted  to  see  that  the  followers  of  such  a  "perfect 
church"  as  his  should  believe  in  such  absurdities;  most  religions 
have  so  nmch  superstition  and  error  that  a  great  portion  of  the  en- 
hghtened  of  mankind  secretly  despise  them  in  their  hearts;  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  that  we  are  gradually  approaching  another  great 
era  of  reform  in  the  history  of  our  earth.  From  a  letter  to  Tom; 
'T  am  sorry  to  see  that  you  still  try  to  make  me  pay  for  the  ex- 
tra clothing  wore  on  Elmbrooke;  I  do  not  think  you  will  ever 
get  riches  or  happiness  by  any  such  means  as  this,  it  is  only  the 
thoroughly  honorable  and  upright  man  that  can  receive  true  en- 
joyment in  after,  yrs.,  from  the  fruit  of  honest  industry;  of  late  I 
have  had  a  hard  time  working  early  and  late  sometimes  until  ^ 
9  p.  m„  on  account  of  the  shoit  time  in  which  Mrs  S.  wishes  me 
to  have  the  factory  working,  so  as  to  be  able  to  fill  their  orders 
for  Hemlock  extract  so  as  not  to  lose  thtir  customers;  the  fac- 
tory has  been  worked  by  5  boilers  of  late,  while  the  furnaces  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  29I 

the  Other  5  are  being  repaired,  and  only  turns  out  a  small  quan- 
tity of  extract;  my  cough  is  worse  than  it  was  so  that  I  must 
take  more  care  of  myselt",  I  trust  that  you  and  f- ther  have  good 
iicalth  and  live  happily  together;  this  Co.  only  pays  its  men  once 
every  two  months;  of  late  I  have  been  trying  a  vegetable  diet 
and  find  it  very  much  cheaper."  "Staney  Ikae,  Aston  April  14th. 
Dear  Arthur,  Maud  and  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  the  beautiful 
E.ister  cards  you  sent  us,  also  for  the  Christmas  cards  which  are 
lovely;  Mama  received  your  note  some  time  ago  and  says  that 
is  all  right,  she  will  be  glad  to  see  you  whenever  you  come  back, 
1  have  Duly  returned  from  my  visit  to  Charlesbourg,  La  Colle 
and  Montreal  last  week,  I  had  a  very  pleasant  time,  and  Maud 
is  now  in  Montreal  where  she  will  remain  for  a  month  or  so, 
hoping  you  will  be  successful  in  all  that  you  undertake,  I  remaia 
yours  truly,  F.  J.  Meredith."  I  thatik  Heaven  that  with  all  my 
faults  1  possess  the  ennobling  influence  of  a  pure  and  unchanging 
love  for  this  dear  creature,  one  of  the  loveliest  beings  in  God's 
creation;  nevei  can  I  forget  the  gentle  emotion  that  filled  my 
heart  when  I  first  saw  her,  even  though  I  was  yet  a  child;  Dante 
Was  a  lover  at  10  yrs.  of  age,  but  was  unfortunate  in  his  affections, 
1  trust  that  mine  will  not  be  the  same  but  that  I  shall  become 
worthy  of  her,  and  succeed  in  winning  her  respect,  admiration 
and  lovre;  I  am  glad  to  say  that  since  I  have  been  here  I  have 
honestly  done  my  duty  to  my  employers,  and  have  made  it  ai 
rule  to  take  as  rr.uch  interest  and  be  as  zealous  as  if  I  was  work- 
ing for  myself;  the  snow  is  nearly  all  gone  and  the  ice  has  left 
the  river,  still  the  weather  is  very  chilly;  the  masons  have  finish- 
ed repairing  the  furnaces;  there  was  a  fire  in  a  pile  of  tan  bark 
in  the  factory  to  day,  and  I  worked  so  hard  in  helping  to  ex- 
tinguish it  that  on  arriving  in  my  room  I  fainted;  what  causes 
mj  most  uneasiness  is  the  incessant  cough  I  have  with  a  pain 
in  my  chest.  The  people  here  are  nearly  as  low  as  those  around 
KImbrooke,  every  day  I  hear  foul  and  disgusting  language;  Mr. 
S.  has  told  me  not  to  work  in  cold  or  damp  places,  also  that 
whenever  I  had  time,  to  learn  the  running  of  the  engine^*  from 
Dun;  we  cleared  out  the  blacksmith  shop,  sorted  the  iron  and 
implements  that  were  all  washed  together  by  the  flood,  also 
cleaned  aut  the  well  by  the  river's    edge,  that  supplies  the  fac- 


292  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

tory  with  water.  Mr.  libideau,  one  of  the  pan  men,  and  myself 
are  making  a  boat,  the  cost  of  the  lumber  is  only  ^i;  a  checker 
player  in  these  parts  made  a  checker  board  out  of  482  pieces  of 
wood  and  sold  it  for  ^50;  in  the  latter  part  of  March  saw  the 
strange  occurrence  of  a  snow  storm  and/^^^^h under.  28th  April, 
my  health  has  been  steadily  growing  worse,  byave  decided  to  go 
to  Montreal  to-morrow;  have  spent  many  eveniri^«  at  Mr.  Sher-' 
mans,  and  played  chess  with  Mrs.  Sherman,  have  also  read  many 
interesting  books,  one  by  Everett  the  learned  blacksmith  enti,;Jed, 
"chips  from  many  blocks,"  which  contains  much  sound  reas^i^. 
On  my  arriving  at  Montreal  my  uncle  told  me  there  was  nothing 
serious,  that  I  merely  had  a  bad  cold.  Received  from  Mrs.  Bent- 
ley  on  my  way  back  a  very  kind  reception,  she  showed  me  her 
studio  which  is  in  the  top  of  the  house,  and  commands  a  mag- 
nificent 'view  of  Charlesbourg  and  the  River  St.  Lawerance. 
Since  my  return  I  have  worked  at  odd  jobs  around  the  factory. 
Elmbrooke  May  2nd.  "My  dear  Arthur,  I  have  been  wishing 
for  a  long  time  to  write  to  you  but  I  have  even  less  leisure  here 
than  at  the  old  place,  and  as  I  wanted  to  write  you  a  long  letter 
I  kept  putting  it  oft,  but  I  feel  I  can  do  so  no  longer;  I  am  sorry 
to  say  I  lost  on  the  straw  I  bought  from  you,  as  it  now  sells  in 
the  French  country  for  ;^i  a  single  load;  Tom  would  not  allow 
me  to  bring  any  of  my  fodder  to  his  place,  for  fear  of  getting  the 
*'bx  eye  daisy"  on  Elmbrooke;  you  say  in  your  letter  to  Tom  that 
you  have  never  been  the  "fair  hatred  boy"  with  me,  which  I  think 
is  very  unkind  of  you,  if  you  will  only  reflect,  you  will  see  that 
'  I  have  done  more  for  you  than  for  him,  as  much  as  I  could  pos- 
sibly do  in  my  straightened  circumstances  with  little  or  no  re- 
sources, it  therefore  grieves  me  sorely  to  have  you  make  such 
a  remark,  it  must  be  either  through  jealously  or  your  extreme 
impulsiveness;  you  are  blind  to  the  real  facts  of  your  dealings 
and  conduct  to  others,  why  should  you  be  jealous,  I  have  never 
done  so  much  to  please  him  as  to  please  you,  (he  never  asked 
me,)  and  I  only  expressed  my  sympathy  to  him  on  account  of 
his  lameness;  I  do  not  blame  you  in  the  least  for  choosing 
another  occupation,  but  for  the  abrupt  and  inconsiderate  manner 
of  doing  so,  I  never  expected  you  to  remain  a  farmer,  but  for 
your  intense  ambition  to  gain  notoriety,  and  impatience  to  make 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  293 

a  fortune  before  you  knew  how;  we  might  have  all  been  so  much 
better  off  and  happier,  and  you  still  would  have  had  good  oppor- 
tunities to  study  for  law.  which  though  I  do  not  think  much  of 
for  a  vocation,  still  I  prefer  it  to  the  sea  or  army;  if  you  had  not 
persuade'.!  Tom  to  start  for  yourselves  on  Elmbrooke,  aud  sunk 
so  much  money  on  so  many  buildings,  and  had  remained  with 
me  for  2or  3  yrs.  longer,  it  would  not  only  have  been  to  my  benefit 
but  to  yours  also;  you  shonld  have  helped  me  to  make  more  im- 
provements on  my  farm  before  moving  to  your  own;  it  was  your 
duty  to  do  so,  and  I  could  have  kept  you  if  I  liked  until  you 
were  of  age,  but  from  the  refractory  way  you  went  on  and  the 
paper  you  so  very  cunningly  got  me  to  sign  giving  you  power 
to  act,  trade  and  buy  for  yourself,  I  saw  that  there  was  no  use 
in  trying  to  do  so,  besides  your  disposition  in  aiming  more  after 
quantity  instead  of  quality  of  work,  did  not  suit  me,  as  I  was 
more  acquainted  and  suited  to  the  European  style  of  farming, 
than  to  the  rough  and  ready  way  of  bush  farming;  if  I  could  get 
you  to  see  the  sad  effect  of  your  erratic  and  impulsive  character 
of  disposition,  not  only  to  others  but  to  yourself,  which  must 
cause  you  great  difficulty  in  improving  and  developing  the  abil- 
ities that  you  have;  you  must  remember  that  there  are  more 
idols  than  those  of  wood  and  stone,  most  men  have  big  or  little 
ones  peculiar  to  themselves,  honor,  wealth,  pleasure  and  fame, 
are  numbered  amongst  them,  all  of  which  we  are  told  to  beware 
of;  we  must  seek  God's  glory  and  not  our  own;  God  has  the 
most  right  to  it,  as  being  not  only  our  Creator  but  our  father, 
who  surrounds  us  with  Gvcry  blessing,  but  he  has  made  those 
blessings  dependant  on  bur  own  industry,  for  he  put  us  into  this 
world  in  his  own  image  and  likeness,  spiritually  gifted  with  cer- 
tain powers  and  abilities,  and  a  certain  amount  of  free  will  (where- 
in we  resemble  him)  to  be  used  in  control  of  all  things  given  in- 
to our  power,  which  should  be  used  to  God's  glory  (not  ours,) 
and  in  so  doing  we  are  all  bound  to  regard  each  as  his  children 
and  consequently  brothers;  in  the  Saviour's  parable  he  compares 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  children  playing  in  the  market  place, 
and  when  he  fulfilled  the  laws  of  a  just  and  Divine  Father  in  our 
stead  (whose  eyes  cannot  behold  unjustly)  by  his  life  example, 
teachings,  and  ultimate  suffering  on  the  Cross,  by  the  blind  Jews 


294  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

for  exposing  their  pharasaic  unrij^hteousness  and  degeneracy, 
he  reduced  the  whole  Mosaic  commandnients  to  2:  "to  love  God 
with  all  our  hearts  and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves;"  love  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law,  love  and  charity  are  the  same  in  cffjct,  there 
are  no  extremes  in  either,  therefore  inordinate  ambition  is  un- 
lawful for  it  requires  covetousness  to  help  it  on;  covetousness 
is  idolatry,  our  desire  is  to  exalt  ourselves  above  others, 
for  notoriety  is  making  an  idol  of  fjme;  the  man  with 
the  humble  desire  to  do  good,  God  always  exalts  in 
due  time,  and  the  proud  he  always  abases  sooner  or  later;  besides 
inordinate  desires  lead  to  unscrupulous  conduct  towards  others. 
You  seem  to  think  I  do  not  care  for  you,  but  you  little  know 
how  much  you  are  in  my  thoughts  day  and  night,  and  Tom  well 
knows  when  your  first  letters  arrived  you  seemed  to  make  your 
case  so  plausible  about  what  you  spent  for  clothing  on  Eltnbrooke 
that  I  pleaded  with  him  for  you.  but^  when  I  caine  to  get  a  full 
insight  of  how  the  cas?  stood  I  decided  that  you  only  study  your 
own  gain.  I  was  sorry  to  hear  yuu  had  a  bad  cold,  remember 
you  have  not  a  constitution  that  can  stand  wet  clothes  or  excite- 
ment; do  not  follow  those  visionary  ideas  of  vegetarianism,  man's 
constitution  requires  bread  meat  and  vegetables,  but  each  in  mod- 
eration to  keep  him  in  health  and  strength,  do  no  be  "penny  wise 
and  pound  foolish;"  you  will  perhaps  think  I  have  written  se- 
verely to  you,  but  I  do  it  for  your  good  and  no  one  would  more 
heartily  rejoice  at  your  success  than  I,  but  I  fear  you  are  too 
visionary  to  succeed  in  life  without  your  uncle's  advice  and 
mine  to  check  your  impulsive  spirit;  be  humble  and  patient,  let 
honor  not  fame  be  your  guiding  star  and  you  will  succeed;  your 
affec.  father,  J.  E.  Howard."  Read  this  quietly  and  seriously; 
P.  S.  'T  am  in  sympathy  with  you  and  wish  you  well,  be  true  to 
God,  your  fellow  men  and  yourself  and  you  will  become  a  pros- 
perous and  happy  man."  I  have  no  food  for  my  pigs,  I  was 
thinking  of  buying  grue  or  moulie  in  Montreal,  but  Tom  ad- 
vises me  to  buy  your  buckwheat,  I  could  only  give  40cts.  a  bushel; 
I  did  not  let  my  sugar  bush  this  season  being  a  poor  one.  In  a 
letter  from  Tom  he  says:  "potatoes  are  rising  in  price  and  I  shall 
sell  yours,  I  sold  your  oats  for  32Cts.  a  bushel;  have  you  made 
up  your  mind  as  regards  the  extra  clothes  you  wore   while  you 


niSTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  ,29$ 

lived  on  Elmbrooke.  in  reply  I  say,  in  a  former  letter  you  ask 
me  if  I  am  willing  to  -lengthen  the  time  of  paymeut  for  your 
note,  this  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  do  although  you  have  treated 
me  in  a  most  unbrotherly  manner;  as  regards  your  unjust  claim 
I  have  consulted  Uncle  Richard,  he  told  me  that  it  could  not  be 
legally  collected  and  advised  m^  not  to  pay  it,  he  informed  me 
that  Uncle  Jerrold  or  himself  will  never  touch  my  half  of  Elm- 
brooke, and  that  jou  are  to  have  the  use  of  it  for  life  and  to 
your  heirs  at  your  death  (if  you  have  any;)  he  also  tells  me  that 
Uncle  Jerrold  continues  the  income  of  ^300  a  yr.  to  you.  From 
a  letter  to  Angelica  Fothergill:  1  have  just  returned  from  Mon- 
treal where  1  enjoyed  a  few  days  visiting  at  my  Uncle  Richard's; 
to  all  appearance  Protection  has  been  of  immense  benefit  to  Mon- 
treal, there  is  scarcely  a  factory  closed  in  the  city  and  very  little 
unemployed  labor.  1  was  delighted  to  hear  that  you  and  Mr. 
Fothergill  are  going  to  visit  Canada  this  Summer,  what  pleasure 
you  will  have  in  meeting  all  your  old  friends.  Have  of  late  been 
removing  the  huge  masses  of  ice  that  broke  in  one  side  of  the 
factory.  ''Dear  father,  I  reed,  your  letter,  and  am  thankful  for 
your  good  advice,  I  regret  that  my  remark  in  Tom's  letter  hurt 
yo.ir  feelings,  for  I  really  do  wish  to  do  my  duty  towards  you, 
for  1  can  never  forget  how  much  my  dear  mother  impressed  the 
necessity  of  this  duty  on  me,  and  though  I  have  been  somewhat 
wild  and  reckless  I  shall  never  forget  the  counsel  and  noble  ex- 
ample she  gave  her  children,  not  merely  when  they  had  arrived 
at  the  age  of  manhood,  but  from  their  earliest  infancy  she  did 
her  utmost  for  her  children's  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare,  by 
following  up  her  precepts  (by  what  is  even  more  essential)  a 
beautitul  and  holy  example,  of  all  the  blessings  I  ever  had  I  shall 
always  feel  most  grateful  for  the  gift  of  such  a  mother,  When 
I  first  sat  down  to  write  you  I  am  afraid  my  feelings  overcame 
my  reason,  Lut  the  thought  came  into  my  mind,  I  must  try  as 
much  as  possible  to  write  as  my  dear  mother  would  have  wished 
me  to;  so  I  smothered  all  my  indignation  and  will  try  and  write 
in  as  proper  and  respectful  a  style  as  possible  and  candidly  tell 
you  the  cause  of  my  displeasure.  Your  letters  are  written  h\ 
such  a  way  th?t  one  might  imagine  I  was  in  danger  of  the  gal- 
lows, or  the  vilest  of  the  vile;  you  may  not  think   so  but  I  see  it 


296  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

in  this  light,  an  impartial  stranger,  from  your  letter  would  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  I  had  scarcely  any  conscience  or  honor 
in  me,  which  is  only  a  polite  way  of  calling  a  man  a  rascal;  for 
the  last  7  yrs.  you  have  always  industriously  examined  my  busi-  . 
ness  transactions  and  life,  and  could  only  find  one  tainted  morsel, 
which  yvou  seemed  to  take  great  delight  in  bringing  under  my 
nostrils,  in  this  business  transaction  I  erred,  not  from  a  business 
point  of  view  but  that  of  honor,  by  buying  your  hemlock  bark 
and  making  ^2$  profit  on  it,  although  you  were  going  to  sell  it 
to  a  stranger  for  less  than  !  gave  you,  still  I  should  not  have 
nnado  that  sm^ll  profit  on  my  father  even  though  I  did  lose  some 
time  in  disposing  of  it,  but  since  I  have  repaid  you  the  amount 
why  did  you  write  to  my  uncles  about  it,  tell  it  to  the  Aston 
people  and  be  always  casting  it  n\  my  face;  this  surely  is  not  act- 
ing a  good  father's  part,  and  why  say  that  1  alone  was  the  cause 
of  our  moving  to  Elmbrooke.  Was  not  Tom  the  first  lo  leave 
the  homestead,  and  did  I  not  do  better  to  persuade  him  to  come 
back  to  Elmbrooke,  than  to  accept  that  position  ^is  clerk  in  New 
Brunswick  by  which  he  would  have,  been  separated  from  his 
mother;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  my  f^Ws^tb'be  your  scapegoat 
ever  since  I  was  a  child,  you  should  rfer^entbgr"  however  that  I 
have  left  Aston  and  those,  constant  recrirrffa^tlotis.^  therefore  1 
will  hear  no  more  of  them,  please  never  again^'4i^^'.^U5h"'an,.ex'-  . 
pression  as  "sympathize  with  you"  for  I  am  not  in'ih^ydb^^tidrt^,^ 
to  want  the  sympathy  of  any  one;  you  think  I  am  tto,,tfe.^|U'^v 
for  giving  away  my  half  of  Elmbrooke  but  I  would  no,t  OTK?j(ie f  %}(4  ^ 
the  best  man  hving  my  liberty  to  think  and  act  as  I  pfease^^^^, 
the  best  estate  or  income  in  the  world;  if  my  uncle  had  allowed''' 
me  to  use  my  oA'n  judgment  in  farming  I  wonld  have  made  it  a 
success,  and  repaid  in  a  few  yrs.  every  cent  of  Uncle  Jerrold's 
income  to  us,  it  was  an  injurious  kindness  in  them  with  their 
want  of  knowledge  in  bush  farming,  to  try  and  direct  our  system 
of  farming;  I  do  not  blame  Uncle  Jerrold  for  this,  for  he  thought 
Uncle  Richard  capable  of  advising  and  directing  us,  but  the 
cleverest  men  living  cannot  direct  a  business,  army  or  any  un- 
dertaking unless  they  are  at  the  seat  of  actfon  themselves;  a 
striking  proof  of  this  can  be  seen  in  the  late  American  war,as  long 
as  the  movements  of  the  army   were   directed  by  men  in  Wash- 


I.     1  . '.     Vi   , 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  29/ 

in^ton  it  met  with  defeat,  but  the  moment  the  iiidependant  spirit 
of  Gjn.  Grant  demanded  absolute  command  victory  was  his  re- 
ward; and  I  assure  you  that  although  my  ambition  and  actions 
may  not  be  "pur  et  sans  reproche"  hke  tiiat  of  Bayard's,  I  trust  at 
least  to  meet  with  tolerable  success  and  accomplish  some  good 
for  myself  and  fellow-men.  As  it  is  inconvenient  for  Mrs.  Gau- 
dette  to  give  me  board  at  her  house,  after  I  commence  to  run  the 
engines  for  the  night  from  i  p.  m.  to  i.  a.  m.  I  shall  board  at  Mr. 
Le  Blanc's  directly  opposite  the  factory.  Regulations  I  have 
written  out  for  my  guidance  in  running  the  engines:  on  Mon- 
day morning  take  packing  out  3  glands  on  the  small  en- 
gine, and  repack  them  with  oiled  hemp,  this  has  to  be  done  once 
a  week  as  also  all  the  many  other  glands  on  the  engines;  the 
gland  on  the  liquor  pump  has  to  be  packed  whenever  it  leaks; 
the  4  glands  on  the  air  pump  have  to  be  packed  every  4  weeks; 
the  glands  on  the  little  and  big  engines  ha^'-^  to  be  packed  as 
much  as  the  lengths  of  the  bolts  will  allow.and  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  have  the  gland  projjct  so  much  that  it  would  strike  the 
piston  where  it  enters  the  gland;  see  that  the  spout  on  the  top 
of  the  dall  and  the  valve  below  are  in  working  order,  if  in  pack- 
ing the  gland  of  the  liquor  pump  the  screw  does  got  turn  easily 
turn  the  fly  wheel  of  the  big  engine;  when  the  starting  valve  of 
the  big  engine  leaks  take  it  apart  and  put  a  new  piece  of  rubber 
between  the  joint,  take  the  cover  ofT  the  condenser  and  remove 
any  dirt  that  may  have  accumulated  on  the  strainer;  avoid  letting 
the  cover  rub  against  the  rubber  band  between  the  point  of  the 
condensor,also  to  have  the  well  cleaned  of  any  particles  of  dust  that 
may  have  fallen  on  the  point  of  the  condensor  as  this  would  pre- 
vent the  cover  from  being  air-tight;  great  care  must  be  taken 
while  examining  it,  as  it  being  situated  in  the  cupola  of  the  fac- 
tory is  in  an  out  of  the  way  place  where  the  fire  would  not  be 
noticed  until  it  was  too  late;  the  oiling  of  machinery  comes  next, 
that  of  little  and  big  engines  and  the  shafts  of  the  grinding  mill, 
while  the  engineer  is  doing  this  he  h  is  to  go  out  occasionally 
into  the  iire  rooms  and  see  that  the  fire  man,  bark  grinder  and 
leach  man  clean  the  ashes  properly  from  off  the  grates  and  that 
the  furnaces  are  filled  with  dry  wood  and  lighted,  also  that 
the  ashes  are  cleaned  out  beneath  the' boiler  once  every  2  weeks, 

38 


"^CfB  HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENXII  IN  AMERICA. 

this  artd  the  cleaning  of  the  grates  is  a  terrible  undertaking,  the 
men  have  to  go  into  the  hot  brickwork  of  the  furnaces  on  their 
hands  and  knees,  and  so  great  is  the  heat  that  they  can  only  re- 
main a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  the  engineer  has  also  to  see  that 
the  leach  man  and  bark  man  the  oil  machinery  in  their  part 
of  the  factory;  the  engineer  now  puts  a  wooden  plug  in  the  low- 
er end  of  the  big  engine's  exhaust  pipe,  as  the  accumulation  of 
water  has  all  drained  out  of  it  by  this  time,  and  lets  a  small  quan- 
tity of  steam  into  the  cylinders  of  the  engines  to  warm  their; 
the  big  engine  can  be  started  with  40  lbs  of  steam,  and  the  little 
one  with  60;  starting  the  big  engine  enough  steam  must  be  put 
on  at  once  to  make  the  large  fly  wheel  re-  olve  slowly,  for  if 
enough  is  not  put  on,  it  only  partially  moves  the  fly  wheel  and 
gets  the  arm  of  the  engine  out  of  position,  in  which  case  it  has 
to  be  put  in  position  again  by  using  a  small  bar  on  the  shaft  of  the 
eccentric  rod  or  large  bar  on  the  fly  wheel,  which  causes  a*great 
deal  of  unnecessary  delay;  care  must  be  taken  not  to  open  the 
valve  too  suddenly  or  too  much,  as  this  deranges  the  "governor"; 
the  two  escape  valves  at  the  end  of  the  cylinder  have  to  be 
opened  before  starting  to  let  the  accumulated  water  escape;  the 
water  glands  of  the  pump  have  to  be  packed  once  a  week,  and 
it  has  to  be  started,  pumping  immediately  after  starting  the  big 
engine  to  see  that  it  is  in  working  or-  r;  when  steam  escapes 
from  any  of  the  glands  tighten  the  screws  with  a  wrench  but 
avoid  making  them  too  tight,  which  would  break  the  piston; 
also  that  the  edges  of  the  gland  never  touch  the  piston,  which 
through  friction  in  a  short  time  would  wear  it  out;  in  starting 
the  water  pump,  the  valves  that  convey  the  wat  r  into  the  boilers 
farthest  from  the  pump  have  to  be  opened  first;  in  starting  the 
little  engine  or  "air  pump"  the  air  valve  has  to  be  shut  and  the 
starting  valve  turned  3  times  around  to  the  left,  after  which  the 
air  valve  has  to  be  opened  and  closed  alternatelv  until  the  action 
of  the  pump  is  felt,  and  then  left  shut  while  the  pump  is  work- 
ing and  open  when  not;  when  the  stream  is  high  the  boilers 
should  be  filled  with  water,  they  should  be  more  than  ^  full  or 
go  lower  than  3  inches  in  the  glass  gages;  the  gages  indicating 
the  depth  of  water  in  the  boilers  should  be  emptied  occasionally  in 
case  of  their  being  choked  with  dust;  when  the  steam  gets  as  high 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  299 

as  60,  the  safety  valve  on  top  of  the  boilers  shouliJ  be  carefully  ex-" 
amined;  if  the  steam  does  not  escape  through  theju.iii  stopping  the 
engine  leave  the  arms  in  good  position,  a  quick  movement  of  the 
eye  and  arm  is  neccessary  lu  do  this  properly;  before  stopping 
the  engines  always  open  the  "escape  valves,"  after  shutting  off 
the  steam  from  the  little  engine  the  exhaust  pipe  hi^s  to  be  open* 
ed;  after  the  air  pump  is  started  throw  a  little  water  into  the 
spout  over  the  dall  and  make  the  p  jmp  go  faster  until  the  water 
appears,  when  a  signal  is  made  to  the  pan  man  of  its  ftppearc^OP^iJ 
whenever  the  water  ceases  to  flow  in  the  dall,  open  and  close  al- 
ternately the  valve  that  lets  water  into  the  vacuum,  oil  the- 
machinery  once  a  day  at  ii  o'clock,  before  stopping  the  big  em 
gine  ring  to  the  grinder  to  cease  throwing  bark  into  the  mills* 
and  allow  them  to  become  empty,  for  if  the  engine  is  stoppedj 
with  bark  in  the  mills  they  would  get  blocked;  the  signals  fromj 
the  pan  man's  room  to  the  engineer  are:  i  ring  of  the  bell  to  stop 
or  start  the  air  pump,  2  rings,  a  little  slower;  3  a  Utile  faster  aJi4 
4  rings,  close  the  exhaust  valvt  ^he  air  vessel  of  the  liquor  pump 
has  to  have  a  cup  of  water  por  ud  into  it  to  start  it  pumping;} 
pump  water  into  the  extra  big  boiler  at  the  same  time  as  into  t|^^ 
10  other  boilers,  as  it  would  force  the  pump  too  ifluch  to  pump( 
into  it  alone;  the  valve  on  the  water  pipe  of  the  big  boiler  has  |:o| 
be  opened  only  half  a  turn,  the  blow  ofi  valve  of  the  big  boij^^ 
when  it  is  worked  has  to  be  opened  every  day  to  blow  the  sc;di-7 
ment  out  of  the  bottom  of  the  boiler,  this  has  also  to  be  done^ 
with  all  the  other  boilers  when  the  ste^m  is  high,  so  that  w|ie;), 
fresh  water  is  pumped  in,  it  will  not  lower  the  steam  too  ^??4^ch) 
commence  filling  the  boilers  at  10  o'clock  so  as  to  have  t^etH 
full  when  aext  engineers  come  to  take  charge;  whe^i  the  1^^^ 
valve  of  the  water  pump  does  not  work  unscrew  it  and  pla^Ge  4 
bucket  of  water  under  it  which  makes  the  pump  work,  tlie  §f^}^ 
rule  applies  to  the  air  pump  of  the  pan;  tlie  big  boiler  sJk>u14 
never  have  more  than  40  lbs.  of  steam.  I  have  a  lazy  ^mma,fii 
I  often  go  on  the  top  of  the  furna.cies  and  find  him  asleep  aii4  tlm 
"tan  holes"  in  the  top  of  the  furnaces  with  5^1  tl^  tan  bark  ^f  nt 
out  of  them,  and  the  flames  escaping  from  tliem  which  cools  tliQ 
furnaces  and  lowers  the  steam,  explained  to  him  that  ao  fji^ttc,r, 
how  much  wood  he  burns,  a.s  long  as  he  allows  these  holes, €91 


3CK)  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

burn  open  he  would  never  be  able  to  keep  the  steam  high,  he 
gave  an  impudent  answer  to  do  it  myself,  told  him  I  was  easier 
on  him  than  Martin  the  other  cnjTineer  was  on  his  fireman,  for 
I  helped  him  to  fill  the  furnaces  occasionally,  he  ^ave  me  some 
more  impudence  at  which  I  told  him  he  was  a  fat,  good  for 
nothing  lazy  rascal  and  that  he  xitjht  go  home,  I  then  sent  for 
the  man  whose  business  it  is  to  replace  these  n^en  who  get  sick 
or  leave  their  work;  the  hot  humid  atmosphere  of  the  factory  is 
telling  on  my  health;  the  pan  man  tells  me  that  brandy,  milk 
and  eggs  beaten  together  will  cure  my  cough,  another  man  pre- 
sented me  with  some  wild  roots;  gave  Mr.  Sheiman  notice  that 
I  could  not  work  next  week  on  account  of  my  health,  he  says  he 
will  write  to  Charlesbourg  for  another  engineer,  and  when  I  come 
back  he  will  give  me  an  easier  position,  but  he  advises  me  to 
become  a  farmer:  nothing  can  equal  their  kindness  to  me  since 
I  have  been  here,  Mrs  S.  sends  me  every  day  many  delicacies 
from  their  table,  but  the  oppressive,  humid  heat  of  the  factory 
has  completely  taken  away  my  appetite;  last  week  made  1 1 5 
barrels  of  extracts  of  liquor  of  ig}4  degrees  by  the  barkometer, 
which  has  been  the  best  week  ouring  the  past  5  months;  there 
has  been  great  rivalry  between  the  2  ''shifts,"  the  other  '"shift" 
has  taken  advantage  cf  ours  by  taking  the  strongest  liquor  to 
boil  and  leaving,  me  the  fires  in  a  low  condition,  and  very  little 
H'ater  in  the  boilers,  which  obliges  me  to  pump  water  into  them 
on  arriving,  which  as  a  matter  of  course  lowers  the  steam  and 
prevents  my  pan  man  from  taking  as  much  steam  as  he  wants 
to  boil  the  liquor,  we  are  however  5  barrels  ahead  of  them 
during  the  week,  but  burnt  a  few  cords  more  wood  than  the 
other  shift,  Mrs.  S.  told  me  that  I  would  soon  get  acquainted 
with  the  tricks  of  factory  life,  and  that  the  only  way  I  could 
bring  the  other  engineer  to  his  senses  was  to  do  the  same  as  he 
did  and  boil  down  all  the  strongest  liquor  first,  leaving  him 
the  weakest  which  would  soon  make  him  act  square. 
From  a  letter  to  Tom:  just  think  of  it!  I  have  to  get  up  every 
Sunday  night  and  run  the  engines  from  }4  past  1 1  until  i  o'clock 
the  next  Monday,  and  all  the  other  days  of  the  week  have  to 
run  them  from  i  in  the  night  until  i  in  the  day,  no  joke  I 
tell  you,  13^  hours  to  be  surrounded  by  steam,  the  smoke  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  301 

kerosene  lamps  and  the  smell  of  oil  &c.,  but  I  expect  to  pet 
the  job  of  book-keeper  of  the  Pulp  factory  at  St.  Augustin 
V'hcn  it  is  built;  it  appears  to  me  that  I  could  not  live  long 
in  the  damp  hot  air  of  this  factory;  I  had  to  discontinue  walk- 
ing to  the  village  to  take  lessons  ii  French  as  it  was  too 
much  for  me,  but  I  dcvoi .  ok  st  of  my  spare  moments  to 
study  by  myself  I  suppose  you  heard  of  Mr.  Bentley's  fac- 
tory being  burned,  fortunately  it  was  insured  for  10,000,  which 
will  not  however  cover  the  loss;  as  it  is  now  7  p.  m.  I  must 
go  and  take  some  rest,  as  I  shall  be  awake  at  1 1  p.m.  to  go  to  work; 
I  shall  try  and  hold  out  this  week,  but  if  my  cough  and  appetite 
does  not  improve  I  shall  go  to  Montreal;  my  honest  opinion  on 
agricultural  and  factory  life  is,  that  any  man  who  owns  loO 
acres  or  even  50  of  good  land  would  be  foolish  to  leave  it  to 
work  in  a  factory,  and  that  if  he  worked  as  regularly  on  his 
farm  as  fictory  men  do,  he  would  be  just  as  well  off,  and 
what  is  still  of  more  consequence,  be  a  a  healthy  man.  I 
trust  that  you  are  well  advanced  with  your  Spring  work  and 
that  you  will  take  an  honest  pride  in  trying  to  be  the  best 
farmer  in  your  part  of  the  country.  From  a  letter  to  father: 
please  tell  Tom  to  pay  Rev.  L.  C.  W.  what  I  owe  him,  al- 
so ask  him  if  he  received  the  amount  I  sent  him.  I  hope 
Tom  will  continue  a  subscriber  to  the  church,  I  think  it  is 
his  duty,  it  being  the  nearest  Protestant  church  to  his  place 
and  also  because  our  dear  mother  is  buried  there;  the  bal- 
ance of  the  money  he  received  for  the  produce  of  Oak  Hill  he 
and  you  will  please  spend  in  beautifying  the  spot  where  the  ob- 
ject of  our  united  love  rests."  June  3rd;  for  the  last  2  weeks  I 
have  been  holding  out  against  an  incessant  cough  and  pain  iti 
my  chest,  for  I  am  unwilling  to  give  up  being  engineer,  which 
gives  me  50cts.  more  per  day.  Or.e  of  the  coopers  has  just  re- 
turned from  Norbert  from  a  week's  spree,  as  he  could  not  buy 
liquor  from  the  priest,  he  kept  himself  in  a  partial  state  of  intox- 
ication by  drinking  large  quantities  of  Cambell's  quinine  wine, 
one  day  he  drank  as  much  as  6  large  bottles.  June  7th;  Mr. 
Sherman's  hostler  drove  me  to  Arlington;  I  write  this  in  the 
waiting  room  waiting  for  the  train;  yesterday  we  burned  4  cords 
of  wood  and  made  13  barrels  of  19^  deg.  extract;  the  liquor  too 


302  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

that  wc  used  for  the  first  3  barrels  was  very  weak,  as  the  leaches 
were  3  hours  behind  time  through  the  breaking  of  the  endless 
chain  that  carries  the  ground  bark  from  the  mills  into  the  leaches; 
we  also  had  great  trouble  with  the  pipe  that  supplies  the  factory 
well  with  water  from  the  river;  1  had  over  25  times  in  the  night 
to  g'j  out  with  a  boat  into  the  middle  of  the  river  to  remove  the 
mud  and  bits  of  wood  washed  against  the  orifice  of  the  pipe;  the 
reader  can  well  imagine  that  to  leave  the  hot  and  steamy  factory 
and  go  out  into  the  cold  night  air  had  a  most  injurious  effect  on 
the  bad  cold  I  now  have.  Mr.  S.  ha.>  given  me  a  leave  of  ab- 
sense  for  5  days;  the  train  has  arrived  at  last,  bought  a  second 
class  ticket  for  Dumas  landing  for  45cts.;  Mrs.  S.  asked  me  to 
call  and  see  Mrs.  Bentley  on  my  way  to  Montreal;  the  country 
after  leaving  Arlington  is  flat  and  uninteresting  with  a  few  small 
clearances;  some  nice  looking  farm  houses  on  both  sides,  a  thick 
second  growth  of  soft  wood  on  either  side;  pass  a  small  "flag 
station,"  fly.  ditches  full  of  water;  yrs.  will  pass  before  the  land 
is  reclaimed,  as  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  sandy  as  well 
as  swampy;  some  nice  clearances  with  ordinary  houses  on  both 
sides;  the  ranges  run  at  right  angles  with  the  rly;  St.  Remi  has 
a  church  and  a  large  extent  of  clearance  about  it;  its  houses  are 
mostly  whitewashed;  country  cleared  on  either  side  with  good 
looking  farm  houses;  arrived  at  St.  Heuri;  the  farms  are  divi- 
ded into  narrow  strips  and  extend  a  great  distance  from  the 
track;  St.  Gertetude  is  a  compact  village  with  a  fine  church  and 
convent,  also  a  friar's  school;  the  houses  are  all  of  wood  and 
whitewashed,  which  gives  it  a  neat  monotonous  appearance;  the 
soil  is  of  a  dark  rich  color  and  is  celebrated  for  producing  hay; 
pass  by  a  beautifully  picturesque  little  river  and  lake  surrounded 
by  handsoTie  groves  of  hard -wood,  the  first  I  have  seen  on  this 
line  since  leaving  St.  Andre,  70  miles  from  here,  cleared  country 
with  numerous  houses  in  the  distance;  the  country  become.*;  un- 
dulating and  is  more  thickly  settled;  approach  Dumas  lan>diftg; 
Charlesbourg  is  to  be  seen  across  the  river  St.  Lawerance  and 
has  quite  an  imposing  appearance,  being  situated  on  rising  ground; 
the  train  runs  out  into  the  river  on  a  pier,  at  the  end  of  which 
the  passengers  embark  on  a  steam-boat;  the  most  conspicuous 
•objects  in  Charlesbourg  as  seen  across   the  river  are  its  catJie- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  303 

dral,  convent  and  seminary;  Dumas  Landing  lias  a  market, 
a  church,  and  is  a  collection  of  whitewashed  houses;  bought  a 
tweed  suit  for  $8,  a  stiff  felt  hat  for  $2.40;  received  a  cordial 
welcome  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bentley,  and  after  lunch  started  for 
^lontreal,  rly.  tare  ^$2.80;  the  country  has  a  flat,  rich  dark  soil 
with  the  usual  uninteresting  French  style  of  house;  the  remains 
of  stumps  in  some  fields,  from  which  I  conclude  that  it  has  not 
been  cleared  very  many  yrs.  but  this  was  only  a  small  strip  of 
country;  the  land  is  ploughed  in  long  .strips  divided  by  deep  fur- 
rows, ditches  as  well  as  fences  divide  the  farms;  river  St.  L.  can 
be  seen  in  the  distance;  a  large  sand  bank  runs  paralkM  with  the 
rly.  on  the  right;  I  have  been  informed  that  this  country  yields 
quantities  of  hay  but  doubt  it  from, the  quality  of  the  soil,  which 
is  very  sandy  land  covered  with  a  second  growth  of  soft-wood; 
the  appearance  of  the  country  is  spoiled  by  the  want  of  taste  of 
French  farmers  and  the  numerous  fences;  many  parts  of  the 
land  is  exhau.sted  with  moss  and  brush  wood  growing  over  it; 
quite  a  number  of  barns  are  thatched;  the  only  animals  I  have 
.seen  so  far  are  flocks  of  sheep;  atrip  through  this  part  of  the 
country  would  damp  the  ardor  of  many  would-be  farmers;  the 
appearance  of  many  of  the  hou.ses  around  here  are  a  disgrace  to 
the  fine  country  and  the  people,  for  it  has  been  settled  at  least 
200  yrs.;  have  passed  numerous  collections  of  houses  but  the 
train  did  not  stop;  it  has  just  now  stopped  at  St.  Louis;  a  large 
village  with  more  convents  than  factories,  and  more  priests  than 
school  teachers;  I  hope  the  day  will  come  when  this  supersti- 
tious people  will  become  so  enlightened  that  they  will  refuse  to 
pay  their  hard  earned  money  to  these  religious  frauds  to  travel 
in  luxurious  first  class  cars,  repeating  so  many  dollars  worth  of 
prayers  every  five  minutes  they  travel,  for  the  repose  of  mothers, 
fathers  and  relatives  of  the  poor  French  farmers;  the  blue  sum- 
mit of  a  range  of  hills  can  be  seen  on  the  right,  and  the  river 
St.  L.  on  the  left;  this  line  has  fine  passenger  and  drawing  room 
cars;  crossed  a  muddy  little  river,  wonder  of  wonders  !  a  factory 
chimney  in  sight;  soil  sandy;  farm  houses  somewhat  improving; 
a  pretty  view  of  a  blue  range  of  wood-lands  seen  over  the  top  of 
woodlands  on  the  right;  clearances  extend  about  a  mile  distant 
on  either  side;  have  passed   a  few  small  villages  cultivated  on 


304  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

small  streams;  range  of  hills  becoming  more  visible  on  the  right; 
rolling  country,  very  sandy,  growing  up  in  soft  wood  in  many 
places;  houses  and  clearances  agani  in  sight;  barren  sand  again 
which  has  not  the  strength  to  grow  even  brush-wood;  mother 
nature  here  kindly  tries  to  hide  the  poverty  of  the  soil  by  a 
growth  of  stunted  brush  wood;  farms  again;  a  riy.  depot,  what  a 
phenomena,  that  they  should  exist  in  such  a  barren  country; 
desolate  country  with  a  growth  of  tamcracs  and  willows  here 
and  there;  pass  through  a  large  peat  bog,  one  end  of  it  is  culti- 
vated; country  rapidly  improving;  La  Assomption,  a  small  vil- 
lage s'.jrrounded  by  some  rich  fiv^lds;  second  growth  is  cut  into 
cordwood  in  some  places  and  piled  along  the  line;  another  small 
village  called  Lavaltrie;  the  train  hands  on  this  line  are  great 
swells,  dress  in  daik  blue  cloth,  brass  buttons,  imitation  diamonds 
and  flashy  neckties;  pass  a  river  on  which  laige  quantities  of 
saw  logs  are  floating;  another  small  village;  country  steadily  im- 
proving; arrive  at  Terre  Bonne;  most  of  the  villages  are  back  a 
distance  from  the  rly.,  having  been  built  before  the  rly.  was;  a 
muddy  river;  a  mountain  to  the  left;  \'ill  arrive  at  Montreal  at 
4:50,  making  the  distance  cfQO  miles  in  4  hours;  pass  a  quarry 
and  a  ledge  of  rocks,  the  first  I  have  seen  on  this  line;  groves  of 
hardwood  which  have  a  fine  appearance;  country  begins  to  look 
picturesque  with  its  hills,  dales,  streams  and  rivulets;  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul  has  a  large  penitentiary,  numerous  maple  groves  give  a 
fine  appearance  to  the  country;  land  could  not  he  better  than 
that  which  we  now  pass;  the  first  branch  rly.  I  have  seen  joins 
this  line;  pass  several  small  villages,  stony  land;  many  stone 
walls,  not  enough  stones  to  prevent  ploughing;  cross  the  river 
Ottawa;  quarries  for  stone;  Mount  Royal  in  sight;  land  in  fine 
state  of  cultivation;  houses  built  of  stone,  enter  Mile  end;  pay 
5cts.  fare  in  an  omnibus  to  go  at  least  2  miles  to  the  center  of 
the  city.  Uncle  Richard  asked  me  if  I  liked  my  new  occupa- 
tion better  than  farming,  said  I  did  not,  that  I  only  looked  on  it 
as  a  stepping  stone  to  something  better;  he  said  I  was  fortunate 
to  get  i^i-So  a  day,  as  few  situations  in  the  city  commanded  that 
price;  uncle  again  examined  my  lungs  but  said  as  usual  that  I 
had  only  a  bad  cold;  went  to  St.  Georgie's  Episcopal  church,  a 
very  handsome  stone  building  covered  with  variegated  slate  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  30$ 

beautifully  finished  inside,  stained  ^lass  windows,  pictures,  etc. 
the  cliurch  which  will  seat  over  looo  was  so  full  that  chairs  had 
to  be  placed  in  the  aisles;  Carniicheal  preached  a  very  eloquent 
sermon,  his  main  art;un)ent  was  "that  righteousness  was  neces- 
sary ami  profit.ible  in  this  World;  he  also  .spoke  on  men  over- 
taxing tliJM'  energies  both  mentd  and  physical,  for  what  iloes 
wealtli  profit  with  a  ruii.ed  constitution;"  als<i  ^ave  some  facts 
about  the  increasinj^^  amount  of  lunacy  m  Candida,  he  also  elo- 
quently and  feeliir^Hy  a[)pealed  to  the  conjjrej^ation  to  turn  their 
backs  on  unprofitable  unrighteousness  and  follow  their  Saviour's 
ex  im.ile  by  which  tlijy  would  be  ha[)pier  in  this  world  as  well 
as  the  next;  Clifford  had  an  argument  with  Uncle  Richard  and 
myself  about  the  French  Canadians,  who  he  said  were  inferior 
in  intellectual  power  to  the  Saxons,  we  maintained  that  naturally 
they  were  not  so,  but  that  ignorance  and  superstition  was  the 
cause,  also  criticised  the  policy  of  "armed  defense"  of  Christian 
nations  which  keeps  millions  of  the  best  bone  and  muscle  of  this 
earth  in  a  state  of  idleness,  while  millions  of  acres  of  land  arc 
waiting  for  the  hand  of  man  to  convert  them  into  fields  of  golden 
grain.  Went  to  hear  a  New  Orleans  Minstrel  troupe  at  Theatre 
Royal;  the  bayonet  exercise  and  the  singing  of  one  of  tl;e  men 
wli.)  iaiitateJ  a  fe.n  lie  voic-*  wi^  allthit  wis  interesting,  I  lefl: 
before  it  was  half  over;  visited  the  water  works;  the  present  con- 
sumption of  water  is  only  9,000,030  g.illons  every  24  hours,  in 
Sumner  l3,0(X),ooO  on  account  of  the  streets  having  to  be  watered; 
in  winter  a  great  amount  has  to  be  used,  as  the  water  has  to  be 
kept  running  in  some  of  the  pipes  to  prevent  freezing;  uncle  told 
mj  that  he  p  lid  ;^3o,ooo  for  some  property  a  few  days  ago  to 
complete  a  block  ot  buildmgs  that  he  owns;  my  aunt  says  he 
ouglit  to  give  himself  rest  from  speculation  and  his  practice,  as 
he  has  sulHcient  to  live  in  ease  and  luxury  for  the  rest  of  his 
life;  uncle  told  me  that  if  I  could  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  French  and  the  hardware  business,  he  could  get  me  a  position 
that  would  comaiand  $I003  a  yr.  in  this  city,  I  visited  the  art 
gallery  vvhich  every  yr.  is  increasing  its  fine  collection  ofpain- 
tings;  {  went  to  Aston  and  found  Tom  sowing  oats  on  the  home- 
stead, helped  him  for  a  quarter  of  a  day;  before   leaving,  when  I 

asked  him  to  renew  his  note  he  told   me  to  go   to  the  d — 1;  sad 

39 


'306  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENXH  IN  AMERICA. 

were  my  thoughts  as  I  heard  these  words  and  looked  towards 
the  old  house  and  remembered  how  Qyrs.  ago  our  dearest  mother 
was  at  the  window  smiling  lovingly  on  us  as  we  returned  from 
our  boyish  labor,  thea  we  were  young  and  innocent  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  depravity  of  the  people  of  this  earth;  we  were 
then  too  young  to  see  through  the  false  gloss  that  hides  the 
vileness  of  the  lives  of  ^  of  the  nominal  Christians  of  the  present 
day;  invited  the  G.  boys  to  come  down  and  spend  the  afternoon 
at  Elmbrooke,  conversed  pleasantly  with  them  all  until  4  o'clock 
when  they  left;  I  consented  to  pay  Tom  for  the  claim  he  had  for 
the  extra  clothing  I  wore  while  on  Elmbrooke,  and  he  renewed 
his  note  to  me  foi  ;S^202,  half  payable  in  Feb.  '83  and  half  in  Feb. 
'84;  father  is  so  changeable,  he  now  says  to  me,  "Tom  has  treat- 
ed you  unjustly  and  I  will  leave  all  the  home  farm  to  you;"  told 
him  that  I  did  not  want  it,  that  he  might  leave  it  to  Tom  and 
aid  him  as  much  as  possible  to  become  a  successful  farmer; 
while  waiting  next  day  for  the  train  at  Aston  played  checkers 
with  Dr.  Moore,  a  French-Canadian  educated  at  McGill  univer- 
sity and  a  very  liberal  man;  saw  a  little  bear  in  a  cage  at  Aston 
station,  it  was  very  cross  from  the  constant  teasing  the  people 
gave  it;  on  arriving  at  Montreal  to  convince  myself  of  the  sound- 
ness of  my  lungs  I  went  to  Dr.  Howard,  he  lives  in  a  stately 
mansion  of  cut  stone,  and  his  reception  room  is  superbly  fur- 
nished, drawing  room  with  a  richly  furnished  private  office  next 
to  it;  he  is  one  of  the  cleverest  and  most  popular  Dr.  in  Montreal, 
he  said  "I  detect  a  slight  weakness  of  the  right  lung  and  advise 
you  to  give  up  the  occupation  you  are  now  working  at,  if  you 
do  not  the  result  will  be  serious,  I  would  also  advise  you  to  move 
to  a  milder  climate;  paid  him  his  fee  $$,  and  he  gave  me  a 
prescription  on  a  drug  store  for  a  cough  mixture;  met  Mrs.  Mer- 
edith, had  a  long  conversation  while  walking  down  Beaver  Hall 
hill;  told  her  that  I  intended  never  to  return  to  farming,  she  in 
formed  me  that  the  family  would  all  move  into  Montreal  this 
winter,  and  invited  me  to  call  on  them  when  I  came  to  the  city; 
forgot  to  mention  that  while  I  ivas  at  Uncle  Richard's  I  met 
Angelica  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  16  yrs.,  she  is  such  a  gentle 
and  affectionate  cousin,  she  conversed  a  long  time  with  me  about 
my  dear  mother  and  said  that  she  had  always  acted  towards  her 


HISTORV  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3O7 

a  mother's  part,  that  whatever  desire  she  had  to  be  a  true  Chris- 
tian was  the  result  of  my  mother's  advice  and  counsel,  before 
parting  she  made  me  promise  to  continue  my  correspondence 
with  her;  met  Mr.  J.  Y.  Morrisson,  he  tells  me  that  their  factory 
in  Pennsylvania  turns  out  lOO  barrels  a  week  and  employs  only 
1 1  men  inside  the  factory.  There  is  no  leach  pitcher,  by  open- 
ing a  trap  door  the  tan  bark  falls  out  of  the  leaches  of  itself  and 
slides  down  an  inclined  plane  over  the  furnaces;  the  valves  are 
so  centralized  that  one  man  is  sufficient  to  run  the  pan  and 
engines;  Mr.  M.  says  the  country  has  a  fine  appearance,  but  that 
the  soil  is  of  an  inferior  quality;  he  is  a  free  trader  and  believes 
that  Canadians  should  be  allowed  to  buy  their  goods  wherever 
they  can  buy  them  the  cheapest,  While  I  was  in  Aston  I  was 
horrified  at  the  terrible  effect  that  the  constant  use  of  intoxicants 
is  having  on  Mr.  McDougal,  he  was  once  one  of  the  handsomest 
and  noblest  looking  men  I  ever  saw,  but  now  his  face  is  fear- 
fully flushed  and  bloated,  and  the  once  almost  perfect  symmetry 
of  his  physique  is  totally  destroyed;  I  felt  disgusted  with  the 
weakness  and  folly  of  nature  when  I  saw  how  quickly  the  beauty 
of  this  man's  figure  and  face  were  being  destroyed,  his  intellectual 
powers  becoming  deadened,  and  a  piece  of  God's  most  glorious 
workmanship  being  lost  for  all  that  is  good  and  true  on  this  side 
of  the  grave;  paid  a  visit  to  a  friend  on  Beaver  Hall  Hill,  was 
quite  astonished  to  meet  his  daughter,  a  beautiful  and  accom- 
plished young  lady,  who  when  I  met  her  9  yrs.  ago  was  a  little 
child,  and  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that  she  could  con- 
verse intelligently  on  the  leading  subjects  of  the  day,  in  fact  she 
told  me  she  had  the  most  profound  contemf.t  for  young  gen- 
tleman who  could  converse  on  no  other  subject  than  society 
gossip;  I  am  sorry  to  say  however,  that  so  far  as  my 
experience  goes,  such  sensible  young  ladies  as  these  are  very 
scarce  and  not  often  met  with.  On  my  way  to  the  Richliew 
Navigation  Co's  wharf  I  bought  a  very  nice  umbrella  for  QOcts. 
and  paid  a  watch  maker  $1  for  cleaning  and  putting  a  new  glass 
into  my  watch;  as  1  had  2  hours  to  spare  went  in  the  street  cars 
to  Hudon's  cotton  factory,  but  on  account  of  being  a  stranger  I 
could  not  get  a  pass  to  inspect  the  inside  of  the  factory,  it  is  720 
ft.  long  and  Ii8  wide  and  5   stories  high,  employs    11 20  women 


30S  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

and  manufactures  48.000  yds.  of  cotton  per  day;  left  Montreal  on 
board  the  Quebec,  a  t^ood  view  of  Victoria  bridge,  behind  us  St, 
Helen's  island  rises  hii^h  out  of  the  river  on  the  ri^ht  with  s(.me 
bouses  on  it;  Lon^ucil  ferry  is  on  our  ri^ht;  fine  nsidenccs  on 
eacn  bank  of  the  river  with  shacle  trees  aiound  them;  a  chuich 
on  the  left,  no  hills  in  si^ht.  Montreal,  situated  as  it  is  at  the  head 
of  navigation,  aud  possessing  such  an  enterprising  class  of  citi- 
zens is  certain  to  maintain  its  position  as  tlie  ccmmercial  metrop- 
olis of  Canada  for  yrs.  to  come.  Fine  houses,  pretty  groves  and 
gentle  rolh'ng  country  on  either  bank;  Beloil  mountains  to  be 
seen  on  the  right  in  the  distance;  Point  Clair  village  on  the  left 
with  a  few  houses  and  churches;  rising  land  on  the  left,  shore 
obstructs  the  view;  houses  on  either  bank  at  intervals  of  about 
3  acres  apart;  a  light-house,  small  village  and  convent  to  the 
lett;  close  to  Pointe  du  Tremble;  2  light  houses  in  view  on  the 
left;  passed  between  2  small  islands,  also  isles  Vercheres  and 
Deloric;  Chj.rlesbourg  is  90  miles  from  Montreal  and  the  same 
from  Quebec;  between  Vercheres  and  Quebec  there  are  43  light- 
bouses;  this  steamer  can  accomodate  600  passengers  with  sleep- 
ing berths,  is  worth  about  ^i6(),coo;  there  is  a  barroom  and 
permanent  book  seller  on  board;  the  bill  of  fare  covers  2  pages  of 
letter  paper  size  and  extra  page  for  wines  and  liquors,  only  a  few 
botels  I  have  been  in  equal  it;  at  .Sutton  the  river  Richelieu  con- 
nects Lake  Champlain  with  the  St.  Lawerance;  there  is  a  rly. 
from  here  to  Aston;  while  waiting  here  I  watched  a  steamboat 
being  loaded  with  pigs,  calves,  sheep  and  lambs,  which  reed, 
very  rough  treatment;  I  also  noticed  fish  on  hanks  still  alive 
quivering  with  agony  and  dying  a  horrible  and  lingering  death; 
without  doubt  the  great  Creator  is  greatly  displeased  with  this 
sinful  cruelly  of  his  so  called  chikiren;  pretty  houses  with  groves 
about  them  on  either  bank;  the  soil  is  very  fertile  between  here 
and  Berthier;  many  young  ladies  were  out  in  boats  upon  the 
river;  there  is  an  excellent  Kngiish  college  hire;  some  of  the 
islands  are  submerged  and  only  the  tops  of  bushes  can  be  seen; 
a  gentleman  on  board  has  a  boat  he  bought  at  Berthier  made  of 
Spanish  cedar,  red  cedar  and  English  oak  beautifully  painted 
and  varnished  with  a  patent  contrivance  that  enables  the  rower 
to  feather  his  oars  with  the  greatest  ease,  for  which  he  paid  ^ico; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3O9 

arrived  at  Isle  au  Paix,  which  is  9  miles  long  and  4  wide,  and 
contains  a  church  and  a  whole  parish  which  is  formed  of  excel- 
lent farms  and  neat  farm  houses;  ocean  steamers  can  only  pass 
in  the  channel  on  1  side  of  the  island;  I  Mmost  imagine  I  am  in 
Holland  as  we  leave  Herthier,  land  and  water  is  so  nmch  mixed; 
the  deck  passengers  ot  this  boat  are  dirty  miserable  specimens 
of  humanity;  the  river  is  divided  into  2  channels  by  islands 
covered  with  stately  elms,  under  which  numerous  cjttle  are 
grazing;  1  hear  that  many  of  them  get  drowned  by  venturing 
too  far  into  the  water;  the  outline  of  the  shore  on  the  right  is  in- 
distinct in  the  f;r  di^itanee;  we  have  entered  Lake  St.  Peter;  a 
thunder  storm  has  just  ceased  and  a  beautiful  rainbow  is  in  view; 
pass  a  "light  ship'  permanently  moored  with  a  lantern  in  its 
mast  head,  also  several  bouys  to  direct  the  course  of  vessels  into 
a  sale  channel,  they  are  placed  every  Spring  by  the  government 
along  the  course  of  the  river  and  have  to  be  removed  every  fall 
as  the  descending  ice  would  carry  them  away;  Lake  St.  Peter  is 
9  miles  wide  and  25  miles  long;  this  steamer  goes  at  about  the 
rate  of  12  miles  an  hour  and  burns  12  tons  of  coal  each  trip  of 
90  miles;  its  engine  driver  has  ^50  a  month  and  board;  the 
steamer  has  now  stopped  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Norbert  river 
where  there  are  6  large  steam  saw  mills;  the  country  here  al- 
though flat  is  interesting  on  account  of  the  numerous  grove*?; 
there  is  a  French  college  in  the  village  of  Norbert  2  miles  from 
here;  there  are  some  lovely  little  islands  in  the  mouth  of  the 
river  covered  with  willows  which  form  a  wall  of  green,  rising 
perpendicularly  from  the  water's  edge;  the  steamer  does  not 
usually  stop  here  but  at  Port  St.  David  at  the  outlet  of  the  St. 
David  river;  along  the  banks  of  the  river  there  are  no  moun- 
tains, no  grand  primeval  forest  or  stately  residences  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  the  scenery,  still  however  the  St.  Lawrence  is  one 
of  the  grandest  rivers  in  the  world.  Next  morning  I  was  awoke 
at  the  hotel  by  the  sound  of  the  martial  music  of  the  Christian 
idolaters  of  Charlesbourg,  who  on  this  day  bow  down  and  adore 
a  piece  of  bread,  to  adore  the  sun  or  moon  or  even  animals  is 
bad  enough,  but  in  my  estimation  a  piece  of  bread  is  about  the 
most  aLsurd  God  the  dupes  of  priest-craft  ever  worshiped;  on 
my  way  to  Mr.  Bentleys   passed  the   "reposir"  of  which   they 


310  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

were  taking  a  photograph  and  its  numerous  images;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  B.  introduced  me  to  several  of  their  Charlesbourg  friends 
also  to  Miss  Bentley  who  is  about  a.^  plain  an  English  young 
lady  as  I  have  ever  seen,  her  features  are  long  and  angular  and 
her  complexion  is  abominable,  but  she  is  well  educated  and 
very  much  accomplished  and  a  most  agreeable  companion;  in 
her  opinion  most  of  the  wooden  houses  in  Charlesbourg  have  a 
temporary  appearance  as  compared  with  those  of  Gt  Britain; 
there  are  several  large  saw  mills  in  this  town  owned  by  English 
speaking  people,  which  export  millions  of  feet  of  lumber  annually; 
they  are  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Maurice  river.  I  never 
saw  a  lady  or  gentleman  devote  so  much  care  in  training  their 
children  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bentley;  they  do  not  seem  satisfied 
with  leaving  their  instruction  entirely  in  the  luu  ..,  of  the  teach- 
ers of ;  first  class  school,  but  supervise  it  themselves  and  act  as 
if  they  felt  how  much  the  future  character  of  their  children  de- 
pended on  their  example  and  instruction.  I  now  see  how  Mr. 
B.  accomplishes  so  much  reading,  he  devotes  all  his  spare  time 
to  it  and  reads  systematically  only  that  which  is  useful,and  skips 
over  all  the  trash.  Mrs.  S.  favored  us  with  some  music  and 
singing,  as  well  as  Miss  Bentley,  the  former  has  a  very  silvery 
cultivated,  though  not  powerful  voice;  Mr.  B.  also  read  for  our 
benefit  choice  selections  of  a  most  amusing  character,  out  of  all 
Mark  Twain's  works;  their  sweet  little  son  and  daughter  appear- 
ed to  take  as  much  pleasure  in  them  as  ourselves,  and  when  I  saw 
this  man  full  of  business  |cares  and  with  very  little  time  to  call 
his  own,  spend  one  hour  in  helping  and  encouraging  his  little 
son  to  become  acquainted  as  perfectly  as  possible  with  his  lessons 
for  school  to-morrow,  and  the  mother  do  the  same  wi!h  the 
daughter,  I  could  not  refrain  from  expressing  my  admiration, 
when  they  told  me  that  the  duties  of  society  or  business  were 
not  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  hour  they  daily  devoted  thus 
to  their  childrens  welfare.  Later  on  in  the  evening  I  had  an  in- 
teresting conversation  with  him  on  the  manufacture  of  paper 
and  was  told  that  there  are  940  paper  factories  in  the  United 
States,  the  largest  of  which  turns  out  4  tons  a  day,  I  am  now 
at  work  again  running  the  engines,  both  Martin  and  myself  find 
it  very  diffcult  to  "keep  up   the  steam"  on  account  of  the  bad 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3  I  I 

wood  we  use;  I  only  pay  Le  Blanc  ;^2.co  a  week  for  board.  2 1st 
June;  the  trees  are  all  in  leaf.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bentley  have  in- 
vited father  and  Tom  01  visit  to  their  place;  Le  Blanc's  little 
son,  9  yrs.  of  age,  murders  the  Latin  language  every  evening  by 
repeating  long  prayers  for  the  benefit  of  the  family,  in  a  sort  of 
Latin  jargon.  In  a  circular  published  by  E.  Howard  he 
says  that  "Irish  bouroughs"have  less  than  as  many  parliamentary 
voters  in  proportion  to  the  population  as  English  boroughs; 
Dublin,  with  a  population  of  267,000  in  1871  had  only  13,590 
voters  for  parliamentary  purposes,  and  of  municipal  voters  only 
5000;  in  Leeds  in  '71,  with  a  population  of  over  259,000  it  had 
49,000  parliamentary  electors  and  over  50,000  municipal.  Ex- 
tract from  a  pamphlet  by  E.  Howard  entitled,  "Irish  grievances 
in  1882"  with  some  remarks  on  Home  rule;  true  liberty  only 
exists  where  there  is  cheerful  obedience  to  just  and  wise  laws, 
(Bacon;)  English  land  laws  have  been  enforced  in  Ireland  for  cen- 
turies against  the  wish  of  the  majority  of  the  Irish  people.  Since 
Mar.  1st,  188 1,  every  Irishman  is  liable  to  imprisonment  without 
even  a  form  of  trial,  merely  on  the  secret  sworn  information  of  a 
policeman,  and  locked  up  during  the  pleasure  ©f  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant's secretary,  who  is  an  Englishman;  over  500  persons  are 
thus  incarcerated  in  Her  Majesty's  jails  in  Ireland,  amongst  them 
3  highly  popular  M.  P's.  No  man  is  allowed  to  carry  arms 
without  a  license,  and  in  education  although  the  Irish  people 
have  long  desired  a  public  system  of  education  for  their  children, 
the  British  government  have  endeavored  for  the  last  50  years  to 
force  on  them  a  more  or  less  purely  secular  education;  also  the 
pettiest  acts  of  Parliament  for  local  purposes  bridges,  canals  or 
gasworks,  must  be  squeezed  by  their  promoters  at  a  great  rost 
of  time  and  money  through  that  lumbering,  overworked  machine 
the  Imperial  Parliament.  In  Gt.  Britain  owing  to  the  partial 
prevalence  of  household  suffrage  2  men  ont  of  every  5  have 
votes,  in  Ireland  where  household  suffrage  is  unknown  only  one 
man  in  5  has  a  vote,  The  local  government  and  finances  of 
Irish  counties  are  managed  chiefly  by  grand  juries  appointed  by 
the  high  sheriff  of  each  county;  the  grand  jurors  are  nearly  all 
country  gentlemen  and  either  landlords  or  land  agents,  most  of 
them  being  Protestants  and  Tories,  while  the  rate  payers  whose 


312  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMEhlCA. 

money  they  expend  are  mostly  Catholics  and  home  rulers,  ex- 
cept in  Ulster;  about  9  out  of  every  10  magistrates  in  Ireland 
who  administer  justice  in  the  police  courts  and  at  the  petty  ses- 
sions are  Prote>tants  and  Tories,  while  three  fourths  of  the 
people  to  whom  justice  is  administered  are  Catholics;  magistrates 
and  judges  nearly  all  belong  to  the  landlord  class  in  sympathy 
and  relationship.  In  Gt.  Britain  when  a  change  of  government 
takes  place  from  Conservative  to  Liberal,  the  character  of  the 
Executive  changes  also  in  sympathy  with  the  change  of 
ministry.  In  Ireland  the  Executive  is  practically  the 
staff  of  government  officials  at  Dublin  Castle  who  always 
are  Tories  of  an  advanced  (backward)  typj.  ■  The  police  force  in 
Ireland,  instead  of  being  controlled  as  in  Gt.  Britain  by  the  local 
authorities  in  each  town  or  county  and  unarmed  except  with 
truncheons,  are  under  the  control  of  the  Tory  officials  at  Dublin 
Castle,  and  armed  with  rifles,  swords  and  bayonets  and  drilled 
like  an  army,  and  frequently  act  without  regard  to  the  wishes  of 
the  elected  local  authorities.  As  a  result  the  Irish  police,  though 
not  more  effective  in  proportion  to  numbers  than  the  British 
police  in  detecting  crime,  are  most  successfully  employed  in  dis- 
persing unarmed  and  peaceable  public  meetings,  and  in  occasion- 
ally shooting  or  stabbing  to  death  any  riotously  inclined  peasant. 
Reforms  of  nearly  all  these  grievances  have  been  repeatedly  ask- 
ed for  in  Parliament  by  Irish  members,  but  hitherto  without 
avail.  All  bills  intended  to  remove  or  lessen  the  evils  mention- 
ed have  over  and  over  again  been  introduced  by  Irish  members 
and  been  supported  in  all  cases  by  a  majority  of  Irish  members, 
but  the  votes  of  English  and  Scotch,  members  have  invariably 
swamped  the  Irish  vote.  The  coersion  act  of  1881  passed 
although  38  Irish  members  voted  against  it  and  only  16  in  favor 
of  it.  On  the  other  hand.  Ircotland  practically  enjoys  home 
rule.  Scotch  affairs  as  a  rule  are  ananged  in  Parliament  in 
accordance  to  the  wishes  of  the  majority  of  the  Scotch  members, 
who  meet  unofficially  before  hand  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Lord  Advocate,  who  is  himself  a  Scotch  M.  P.,  and  arrange  the 
main  principles  and  chief  details  of  Scotch  legislation,  which 
arrangements  are  generally  but  little  interferred  with  by  the 
House  of  Commons.     Home  Rule  is  proposed  as  a   remedy  for 


1 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3I3 

the  present  unsatisfactory  slate  of  aftairs  in  Ireland;    that   Irish- 
men should  manage  their  own  local  affairs  as   is  done  by  the  in- 
habitants of  each  State   of  the  American  Union.      This    would 
relieve  the  British   Parliament  of  niuch   trouble  and  annoyance 
which  it  at  present  incurs  in  endeavoring  to  n.anage  the  legisla- 
tive business  of  a  country   of  which   it   has    but  a   very   slight 
knowledge.     In  a  letter  from  Tom,  dated  June  3rd,  he  says:     I 
have  now  finished  sowini^  father's  farm.      On    Elmbrooke   all    T 
have  sown  as  yet  is  2  acres  of  wheat  and  2  bushels  of  oats  as  the 
land  is  so  wet,  but  I  hope  to  finisix  all  except  the  buckwheat  next 
week.     This  Spring  there  were  terrible  bush  fires;  'the  fire^burn't 
over  the  woodlands  on  every  lot  on  our  rangfe'  for   a   distance  of 
7  miles;  for  2  days  and  a   night   we    had  to  battle  with  the  fire* ' 
wood  and  tie  contractors  lost  several  thousand  dollars  worth   of 
timber.     I  have  sown  i^  acres  of  potatoes  and    16   bushels  of 
oats  on  father's  place  and   have   hired    Perreault    for    5    months. 
Th^  supply  of  ice  is  getting  low;  Le  Blanc  is  making  a  wooden 
drain  to  carry  cold  spring  water  to  the  factory;  met  the  youngest 
Miss  Walts  who   tells  me  Maud  Meredith  is  to  be  married  to 
Mr.  Bacon    of   Toronto,   but   this  I  do  not  believe  as  he  is  too 
young,  only  16  years  of  age.   Sunday,  3d  July;  I  told  Thibideau 
and  Le  Blanc,  both  devout  catholics,  that  their  doctrine   of  the 
"real  presence,"  appeared  most  disgustingly  absurd  to   the   great 
majority  of  Protestants,      Le  Blanc — "Did  not  Christ  say;    'This 
is  my  body.'  "     Myself — "But  he  also  said,  T  am  the  way,  the 
truth  and  the  life.'     Yet  no  one  would  believe  that  Christ  was  a 
road,  or  believe  that  he  was  a  vine*  because  he   said,  *I  am  the 
vine  and  ye  are  the  branches.'     He  merely  spoke  figuratively  as 
they  have  always  done  and  still  do  in  eastern  countries."    I  also 
ridiculed  the  absurb  nonsense  of  having  holy  water,  prayers  for 
the  dead,  penance,  days  of  fasting,  etc.      Mr.  S.  came  3  times  to- 
day to  have  me  aid  him  to  secure   with  ropes    the  wooden  dam 
across  the  river  to  prevent  dt  fr,oi;ii  being  Washed  away;  also  said 
he  could  find  no  one  eise  tothelpjiim  do  ft.    I  felt  it  rather  hard 
to  be  deprived  of  my   Sunday's  rest,  but  an  employee  might  as 
well  give  up  all  hopes  of  gaining  his  empldyer's  confidence  and 
esteem  if  he  does  not  determine  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  his 
employer's  commands,  and   even   have  the  keen  perception  to 

40 


314  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

discern  the  meaninpj  of  even  his  slightest  hint,  and  to  anticipate 
as  much  as  possible  all  his  wishes.  Youns^  man,  whoever  you 
are,  if  you  are  working  for  an  employer  or  a  firm  that  is  worthy 
ofyour  esteem,  never  be  satisfied  with  barely  doing  your  duty, 
but  let  no  effort  of  yours  be  spared  to  ple.isc  thjin,  and  you  will 
be  certain  to  meet  with  success  in  life.  A  man  should  never  be 
servile,  yet  at  the  same  time,  if  he  is  determined  never  to  put 
himself  to  inconvenience  for  the  benefit  and  pleasure  of  his  em- 
ployers how  can  he  ever  expect  them  to  take  more  than  an  ordi- 
nary interest  in  his  welfire.  Mr.  S.  has  a  very  strong  tempr^rr 
when  it  is  aroused.  A  coachman  left  the  leachroom  vvindows 
open,  and  Mr.  S.  remarked  that  it  would  pay  him  to  keep  a  man 
with  a  bayonet  to  make  the  idle  vagabonds  do  their  duty.  A 
man  has  succeeded  in  getting  a  license  to  sell  spirituous  liquors 
in  St.  Liboire,  much  to  the  indignation  of  the  priest,  who  will 
lose  a  handsome  revenue  by  it;  however,  I  think  it  would  be 
more  appropriate  for  him  ^.0  deal  out  to  the  people  his  so  called 
spiritual  truths  instead  of  spirituous  liquor.  Many  of  the^French- 
women  here  tell  me  that  they  are  glad  a  bar-room  has  been 
opened  in  the  village,  as  their  husbands,  who  must  have  liquor, 
were  obliged  to  club  together  and  buy  5  or  10  gallons  at  Nor- 
bert,  25  miles  distance,  which  only  caused  them  to  drink  harder. 
The  bar-room  will.  I  think,  be  injurious  to  the  young  men  who 
have  not  yet  acquired  the  habit  and  who  would  never  think  of 
spending  several  dollars  at  one  time  for  whiskey.  Rather 
unusual,  dismal  wet  weather  for  the  month  of  July,  but  Mr. 
Vennor,  Canada's  weather  prophet  predicted  it  and  has  gained 
considerable  notoriety  by  his  weather  predictions.  Mrs  Defosa 
has  been  ordered  by  her  parish  priest  to  appear  before  "the 
Grande  Vicarre;"  he,  however,  does  not  deprive  her  of  the  rights 
of  her  church,  even  though  she  still  r-^fuses  to  return  to  her  hus- 
band. I  spend  an  occasional  evening  at  Mr.  Watts';  his  two 
daughters  and  neice  are  more  to  be  admired  for  their  sociability 
than  for  their  beauty;  also  spent  an  evening  at  Mr.  Holden's 
whose  neice  is  on  a  visit  with  him;  one  evening  I  was  there  he 
asked  his  wife  to  play  a  new  piece,  by  Arthur  Sullivan,  which  I 
thought  she  sang  very  nicely  considering  the  few  times  she  had 
sung  it.    When  she  began  to  re-sing  the  piece,  Mr.  H.  remarked, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  315 

"Oh,  pray  do  not  inflict  us  with  it  a  second  time,"  which  to  say 
the  least  was  a  cruel  and  un'^jentlemanlv  remark  to  a  woman 
who  almost  adores  him.  She  flushed  crimson  and  her  eyes 
flished  indij^nantly  as  she  replied:  "Very  well,  my  dear,  but  it 
was  at  your  own  request  I  sang  it."  While  at  Mr.  Sherman's 
while  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  were  there,  Mr.  H.  informed  us  that  a  10 
ton  stoij  hid  bjen  tikjn  out  of  the  r.ver  it  Ch  irlesDourg,  to 
which  I  rephed  tiiat  the  ancients  almost  performed  as  extraordi' 
nary  fe  its  in  architectural  science  as  are  acco  nplished  at  the 
present  day.  Tiie  cordial  reception  I  always  receive  at  Mr. 
Sherman's  and  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bjntley  fills  me  with  admira- 
tion for  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are  just  as  polite  and  gracious 
to  me  as  10  their  most  f.ishionable  acquaintances,  although  I  am 
reduced  to  the  low  positon  of  a  common  laborer.  Whenever  I 
converse  with  such  ladies  and  gentlemen  as  these.  I  leave  their 
presence  vviih  an  ardent  ambition  and  determination  to  rise 
above  the  adverse  circumstances  that  have  surrounded  me  since 
childhood.  Read  a  life  of  Wellington;  accordi:^g  to  the  author, 
he  was  one  of  the  most  exemplary  heroes  that  ever  existed. 
Have  taken  several  boat  excursions  in  my  new  boat  with  the 
Miss  Watts'  and  their  cousin,  Miss  Meklejohn;  on  one  excursion 
down  the  river  we  disembarked  and  ascended  a  high  plateau  of 
land  from  which  there  was  an  extensive  view  in  all  directions, 
not  even  a  smgle  mountain  or  hill  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 
the  fringe  of  trees  that  surrounded  the  horizon;  the  view,  how- 
ever, up  the  river  towards  the  factory  is  very  nice.  The  precipi- 
tous banks  of  the  river,  covered  alternately  with  trees,  bushes 
and  green  grass,  with  cattle  grazing  here  and  there;  the  bright 
green  islands  in  the  river  and  the  factory  village  in  the  distance 
peeping  from  amidst  a  grove  of  Elms  and  Pines;  in  walking 
through  the  village  we  saw  several  of  the  factory  coopers  stag- 
gering along  the  streets  under  the  influence  of  intoxicants.  Next 
dav  I  hired  a  team  and  went  to  St.  Au2:ustin;  passed  some  neat 
farm  houses  and  excellent  crops;  the  country,  however,  is  very 
thinly  settled  as  yet,  and  no  wonder  considering  the  tremendous 
strength  and  perseverance  a  man  requires  to  clear  up  a  farm  of 
even  50  acres,  on  account  of  the  dense  growth  of  spruce  and  bal- 
sam whose  stumps  are  so  close  together   that   a   harrow  cannto 


3l6  HISTORY  OF  -tliE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

pasj  over  the  land,  nor  can  it  be  sown  ar.  hardwcod  land  until 
the  stumps  are  rt moved,  ^o  that  the  tin  ber  has  to  be  cut  down 
and  left  thus  a  few  years  for  the  stumps  and  roots  to  partly  de- 
cay to  make  them  easier  to  extract.  The  averaj;e  height  of  the 
tr^ei  dbes  not  expeed  40  ft.;  what  surprises  me  is  that  balsams 
grbw  here  on  high  land  as  well  as  on  low  and  the  most  of  the 
high  ground  has  no  hardwood  on  it.  The  whule  country  from 
Arlington  station  to  Hall's  island  in  the  Hriscbois  river,  25  miles 
apart,  has  only  two  slight  dlevaticns  and  in  the  whole  distance 
there  is  not  a  mile  of  woodland  that  deserves  the  name  of  forest, 
and  in  the  whole  of  those  25  uniles  hardly  a  load  of  stones  could 
be  gathered,  but  the  soil  is  in  most  places  sandy.  The  horse 
was  a  miserable  old  nag  and  I  had  to  walk  the  gieatest  part  of 
the  way;  the  loneliness  of  this  part  of  the  country  spoils  its  ap- 
pearance. After  dinner  at  Dun's  house  we  went  with  him  1 3^ 
miles  to  the  falls  on  the  river  which  are  about  60  Tect  in  height 
and  about  i  acre  wide  and  look  very  beautiful;  the  canal  Dun  is 
niaktng  in  solid  rock  to  convey  the  water  from  above  the  falls 
into  the  pulp  factory,  and  when  fini.'-hcd  will  form  one  of  the 
finest  water  powers  in  the  Province;  the  turbine  wheel  is  of  im- 
mense size,  as  also  are  the  two  stones  to  grind  the  wood  to  pulp. 
Mr.  B's  factory  at  Charlesbourg  made  i  ton  per  day  which  was 
made  from  rags,  a  sort  of  grass  that  grows  in  the  vicinity  and 
from  pulp.  Had  to  walk  the  whole  15  mile  drivings  back  and 
left  the  old  nag  and  teamster  behind  me  and  arrived  just  in  time 
to  begin  work  in  the  factory.  Martin  and  Defosa  are  working 
in  the  pan  at  one  of  the  drums  which  are  of  copper  as  well  as 
the  lining  of  the  pan  and,,  all  the  pipes  through  which  the  liquor 
jiasses  which  makes  them  very  expensive;  also  had  the  ashes 
swept  off  the  bottom  of  the  boilers  so  that  when  the  flames  and 
heat  struck  them  wou'd  heat  quicker.  Mrs.  Watts  tells  me  that 
Sam  Burne^  is  dead;  he  was  was  a  talented,  jolly,  good-hearted 
fellow,  but  fa^t  living  killed  him  at  35.  There  was  quite  an  im- 
posing ceJebratii^n  of  St.  Jean  Baptise  at  Norbert;  it  is  the  nat- 
lonldl  holiday  of  thd  French  Canadians.  What  between  mosqui- 
toes and  bugs  ^at  LeBlanc's  I  cannot  sleep  at  night,  but  with 
some  carbolic  acid  I  have  exterminated  the  latter.  In  a  conver- 
sation with  Mrs.  Bentley  and  Mrs.  S.  1  said  I  was  surprised  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3I7 

find  Charlesbourg,  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Canada,  such  a 
sleepy  looking  place;  I  was  somewhat  disappointed  with  the 
view  from  the  steeple  of  the  Cathedral  which  is  200  ft.  high,  a 
few  ship's  sails  and  the  St.  Lawrence  river  was  all  that  I  could 
see  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  bare  and  level  horizon;  I  was 
also  surprised  to  see  so  few  factories  in  such  an  old  town  which 
had  such  great  natural  advantage*  to  start  with,  but  the  Saxon 
Protestant  superiority  of  Montreal's  English  citizens  triumphed 
over  the  natural  advantages  of  Charlesbourg  by  deepening  the 
river's  channel  and  building  magnificent  stone  quays  they  suc- 
ceeded in  making  their  city  the  commercial  metropolis  of 
Canada.  Even  still  Charlesbourg  has  the  great  advantage  of 
having  sea  going  vessels  laying  at  anchor  in  front  of  it  all  night 
on  account  of  the  oifficulty  of  going  through  I^ake  St.  Peter  at 
night  time,  yet  the  citizc^ns  of  Ch  irlesbourg  never  took  advan- 
tagii  of  this  or  built  quays  for  the  vessels  to  stop  at.  if  it  had 
done  this  it  might  have  become  a  great  port;  but  no,  its  citizens 
mostly  all  belonged  to  a  religion  that  has  blighted  the  prosperity 
of  greater  cities  than  it  is,  and  through  which  the  suicidal  sight 
is  seen  to  day  of  shipping  goods  90  miles  past  Charlesbourg 
and  hack  again,  all  because  its  citizens  have  not  the  enterprize 
to  make  it  what  it  ought  to  be — the  commercial  center  of  the 
country  in  which  it  is  situated.  This  may  yet  be  accomplished 
as  it  has  a  few  hundred  energetic  English  citizens  who  have 
successfully  applied  to  Parliament  for  the  deepening  of  the  har- 
bor. Although  these  few  English  only  form  one-sixteenth  of 
the  population,  they  take  the  lead  in  all  its  great  works.  Mrs.  B 
told  me  that  the  small,  plain  church  I  had  seen  near  the  cathe- 
dral was  one  of  the  oldest  in  Canada;  said  I  was  against  the  in- 
creasing expensiveness  of  christian  churches,  and  referred  to  St. 
George's  church  as  an  example;  the  church  itself  cost  over 
5500,000  and  its  pastor  gets  ;$6,ooo  a  year;  some  of  the  members 
pay  as  much  as  ;^500  a  year  to  the  church  alone  not  including 
the  great  amount  they  give  in  charity  and  to  the  mission  fund; 
in  my  opinion  some  ofthe  money  spent  on  costly  churches  and 
expensive  stained  glass  windows  might  be  more  profitably  ex- 
pended in  supporting  a  superior  class  of  free  schools  that  would 
be  able  to  compete  with  the  convent  schools   of  the  French, 


31  8  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

which  would  have  fjreater  cffjct  in  removing  the  credulity  and 
supjrstition  of  thjir  fellow  countryman  thj  French  an  J  Irish 
Catholics.  Also  discussed  the  w.int  of  taste  exhibited  in  most 
of  the  Catholic  churches  in  the  Province,  all  tlieir  interiors  beincr 
in  most  cases  too  fl  ishy  and  j^audy,  and  that  the  interior  of  the 
majority  of  their  country  ciiurches  were  monstrously  scjuire  and 
plain.  Mrs.  H.  tells  me  that  Mr.  13  has  studied  book  keepin<ij 
and  French  since  he  has  com;iienced  business,  not  having 
studied  it  enough  while  at  VVoolich  military  college;  he  also 
takes  the  leading  leather  paper  and  scientific  journals  and  has 
lost  most  of  his  I{lnglish  restive  since  he  has  come  in  contact 
with  the  free  and  familiar  business  .r.en  of  America.  I'rom  Tom, 
dated  July  i6th.  "Was  glad  to  hear  your  cough  is  better;  I 
have  earthed  up  my  potatoes  3  times  and  finished  sowing  buck- 
wheat, now  I  am  getting  ready  for  haying,  which  I  am  glad  to 
say  in  spite  of  all  the  bad  weather,  is  a  fair  crop."  libideau, 
the  pan  man  has  gone  to  do  mason  work  for  Mr.  H.  at  Port 
Neuf  I  presuaded  Mr.  S.  to  give  poor  Defosa  the  charge  of  the 
pan;  he  used  to  have  it  formerly,  but  was  discharged  for  drunk- 
ncss.  Defosa  belongs  to  the  Society  of  St.  Joseph,  and  has  great 
confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  the  prayers  of  its  members  and  in- 
formed me  that  at  his  death  he  will  have  a  certain  amount  of 
prayers  said  for  the  repose  of  his  soul  free  of  charge.  Defosa 
says  he  is  too  wicked  to  pray  to  God  alone  and  therefore  re- 
quires the  intercession  of  saints  to  aid  his  prayers.  I  ridiculed 
such  prayers  as  useless.  The  Isot's  have  been  barbarous  enough 
to  try  and  get  some  strangers  to  keep  their  daughter  who  is 
dying  of  consumption  at  their  house  till  she  is  dead.  Mr.  VV.  is 
in  Montreal  buying  goods  for  Bentley's  store.  On  my  way  from 
the  village  met  Defosa;  he  noticed  that  1  had  a  bottle  of  vhiskey 
in  my  po  ket  which  Mr.  LeBlanc  had  commissioned  me  to  get 
for  him;  he  asked  me  to  let  him  see  the  bottle  for  a  moment  anl 
before  1  could  prevent  him  one-fourth  of  the  contents  of  the 
bottle  was  down  his  throat;  he  returned  it  to  me  with  a  look  of 
shame  on  his  face,  for  he  knew  that  he  had  done  an  act  unusual 
even  to  drunkards,  but  what  will  a  man  not  do  when  constant 
gratification  of  his  appetite  has  almost  extinguished  all  honor 
and  self-respect     I  often  go  out  rowing  in  my  boat,  but  have  to 


HISTORY  OP  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  3I9 

use  a  pole  in  ascendinpj  the  rapids;  we  are  having  occasional 
showers  during  July  vvilli  bright,  warm  ucalhcr,  but  not  at  all 
sultr\ ;  Defosa  makes  a  very  bad  pan  man.  Dun,  the  engineer 
says  if  Mr  S  does  not  allow  him  to  worl<  at  St.  Augustin  he  will 
go  to  Lake  Superior  where  there  is  a  great  demand  for  miners 
and  good  mechanics  Spent  a  Sunday  afternoon  with  Mr.  S.  in 
gathering  beautiful  ferns  for  Mrs.  S.  Mr.  S.  showed  me  a  paint- 
ing he  is  engaged  on  which  is  4x3;  it  is  of  a  range  of  mountains, 
the  summits  of  whieh  are  surrounded  by  fleecy  clouds  through 
which  the  moon  is  shinmg  dimly;  there  are  two  cataracts  with  a 
canoe  load  of  hunters  below  them;  the  sides  of  the  mountains 
are  covered  with  dense  forests,  and  when  finished  will,  I  have  no 
doubt,  form  a  fine  painting,  LeBlanc's  brother-in-law,  Mr. 
Chutie  cUied  to  see  him  with  his  son  who  is  studying  for  medi- 
cine at  Laval  university;  they  are  both  Liberals  m  politics  and 
religion,  which  is  an  unusual  occurrence  among  the  French 
Canadians.  LeHIanc  said  that  he  would  never  vote  before  ask- 
ing his  confessor's  advice  and  defended  his  position  by  quoting, 
"Whatever  ye  shall  bind  on  e<»rth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven;"which 
Chutie  and  myself  ridiculed.  T  hree  batches  of  liquor  are  made  by 
each  "shift"  and  strained  and  passed  through  boxes  in  which  the 
sediment  settles,  and  the  3  batches  are  all  boiled  together  in 
the  last  part  of  the  12  hours  shift;  I  am  beginning  to  get 
tired  of  the  sameness  of  the  diet  at  Le  Blanc's,  for  the  last  3 
days  the  same  little  piece  of  pork  has  been  placed  on  the  ta- 
ble before  me  with  watery  rice  soup  of  a  mawkish  taste,  whicli 
is  served  out  to  us  twice  a  day;  on  Sunday  we  have  beef  or 
rr.utton.  While  Martin  was  at  Quebec  I  ran  the  factory  32 
hours  without  a  rest,  kept  myself  awake  by  reading  a  histor 
of  James  the  II  and  40  yrs  in  Turkey,  from  the  first  I  de- 
rived a  very  unfavorable  opinion  of  James  with  his  vacillating 
character,  from  the  second,  a  good  idea  of  the  habits  and 
customs  of  the  Turks,  Bulgarians,  Albanians,  Greeks  and  Arme- 
ans  In  running  the  afternoon  shift  it  is  necessary  to  see 
that  the  leach  pitcher  does  not  allow  too  much  tan  to  go  on 
top  of  the  furnaces,  as  it  gives  great  trouble  in  covering  the  or- 
ifices in  the  furnaces,  through  which  the  tan  falls  on  the  fires; 
also  that  enough  damp  tan  is  left  over  the  furnaces  to  prevent  it 


320  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

from  catching  fire;  a  sharp  lookout  must  be  kept  to  pump  enough 
water  into  the  boilers  to  "blow  them  ofif."  and  have  enough  in 
them  to  commence  on  Monday  morning;  when  the  liquor  is 
finished  boiling  by  12  o'clock  the  valves  of  the  pan  have  to  be 
opened  and  the  valve  that  allows  water  to  go  to  the  condensor 
has  to  be  partially  closed;  after  sufficient  water  has  been  pumped 
into  the  boilers  the  dampeis  of  the  chimney  must  be  raised  their 
full  height  and  the  doors  of  the  furnaces  opened  to  draw  the 
heat  out  of  them,  also  the  red  hot  coals  stirred  to  make  them 
burn  quicker;  the  men  fill  several  barrels  of  water  in  different 
parts  of  the  factory  in  case  of  fire,  the  men  then  go  to  sleep  and 
the  engineer  awakes  them  at  3  o'clock,  and  sees  that  they  haul 
out  the  hot  ashes  out  of  the  furnaces  with  hoes  with  long  handles; 
the  engineer  then  takes  a  tour  of  inspection  throughout  the  fac- 
tory to  see  that  there  is  no  danger  of  fire,  and  that  all  the  doors 
and  windows  are  locked.  I  explained  to  Mr.  Comeault  at  his 
request  the  state  of  affairs  between  England,  France  and  Egypt; 
explained  how  France  and  England  were  interested  in  Egypt  on 
account  of  the  money  their  subjects  had  invested  in  the  country, 
that  Europeans  had  been  massacred  at  Alexandria,  and  that  they 
wanted  to  have  a  more  honest  administration  of  the  country's 
revenue,  so  that  there  might  be  some  possibility  of  their  subjects 
getting  back  the  money  they  had  lent  in  Egypt,  also  explained 
the  importance  of  the  Suez  canal  to  England  as  a  short  route  to 
India.  An  Episcopal  clergyman  who  holds  services  fortnigiitl^^ 
at  St.  Andre,  calls  here  on  his  way  to  Charlebbourg  and  holds 
services  here,  he  is  one  of  the  oldest  Protestant  missionaries  in 
the  province,  he  preaches  a  very  good  sermon  from  the  text 
"Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  your 
good  works  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  Heaven,"  after 
the  service  he  baptised  Mrs.  Holden's  little  infant  Had  a  con- 
versation with  the  minister  on  the  probabilities  of  the  French- 
Canadians  preserving  their  language  and  instititutions;  he  has  a 
gloomy  opinion  of  the  prospects  for  the  future  success  of  Prot- 
estantism and  English  predominance  in  this  province;  I  pre- 
dicted that  2j^  millions  of  Frenchmen  could  not  preserve  their 
language  surrounded  as  they  were  by  55  million  English  speak- 
ing people,  that  they  might  preserve  it  for  a  time  but  that  con- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  321 

stant  association  with  Americans  and  the  Enj^h'sh  people  of  Can- 
ada would  cause  it  to  become   nearly    extinct  ere  another  cen- 
tury had  elapsed,  also  that  Romanism  was  making  mij^hty  efforts 
to  become  all  powerful  in   the  Western    Hemisphere.     In  speak- 
inj^  ot  Lcyard's  book  on   antiquity,   to   my  surprise    Mr.  S.  said 
that  that  Scriptural  passage  about  "eating  locusts  and  wild  honey" 
really  meant  locusts  instead  of  the  locust  bean  as  I   had  always 
imagined,  also  that  the  Ancients  used  the  same  means  of  transit 
that  is  used  to-day,  for  moving  a   heavy   weight,  a   gang  of  men 
with    ropes    in    front   and  a   fulcrum     behind;     by    an  allusion 
to     St.    Anne   de   Beaupre  the    conversation    turned    on     mir- 
icles;   Mr.  S.  and  the  minister  said  the  age  of  miracles  was  past, 
I  replied  that  from  a  Christian   point  of  view   miracles  were  just 
as  possible  to-day  as  in    the  earlier  days    of  Christianity;  in  the 
minister  alluding  to  the  sun   standing  still  in  the   reign  of  Heze- 
kiah  .Mrs   S.  smiled  incredulously,  and   remarked  that  his  sun- 
dial niust  have  been  out  of  order;  he   does  not  think  that  a  Su- 
pieme  Creator  was  unable  to  stop  the  earth's  motion,  but  that  he 
did  not  and  would  not  reverse  the  order  of  his  unalterable  laws 
to  remove  the  sinful  unbelief  of  a  semi-barborous  king,     the  more 
I  see  of  such  unbelief  as  this   amongst  the  followers  of  religion 
the  more  I  am  convinced  that  Christianity  will  be  purified  more 
and  more  each  year  of  the  supernatural    superstitions  that  have 
descended  to  us  from  our  barborous  ancestors,  or  that  if  Chris- 
tianity refuses  to  be  purified  of  these,  ere  a  few  more  centuries 
have  elapsed  there  will  be  another  reformation  almost  as  great  as 
that  of  Luther's;  let  us  hope  that  it  will  do  as  much  good  in  re- 
moving the  cobwebs  of  ecclesiastical  lies  from  the  eyes  of  man- 
kind as  vvas  accomplished  by  the  glorious  Protestant  reformation. 
On  leaving  they  came    into  the  garden  with    me  to  admire  the 
brilliant  auroro  borealis,  which  they  say  some  suppose  to  be  the 
reflection  of  light  from  lar^e  tracts    of  ice.     Have  of  late  been 
reading  a  work  by   Butler;  newspapers    take  different  views    of 
it,  some  itnagine  it  to  be  a  defense  of  Christianity,  others  "a  cov- 
ert attack  upon  it;"  in  many    ways  I  agree  with   the  author  that 
"truth  must  be  maintained  in  religion  as  well  as  everything  else;" 
why  should  any  doctrine  be   forced  on  mankind  if  it  is  hard  to 
believe  and  contrary  to  human   reason,  even 'though  the  priest- 

41 


322  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

hood  declare  that  it  has  been  especially  revealed  by  God;  God 
is  not  so  inconsistant  as  to  make  great  laws  and  then  reveal  doc- 
trines that  are  entirely  contradictory  to  them.  The  Roman  Cath- 
olic church  tried  to  keep  science  and  scientific  men  under  its 
control,  and  even  imprisoned  men  and  roasted  them  to  death  for 
giving  to  the  world  scientific  truths  that  were  contradictory  to 
their  absurd  teachings,  but  it  was  of  no  avail,  not  even  to  the 
mighty  tyrannical  church  oi  Rome  could  resist  the  grand  prog- 
ress of  science  and  modern  civilization,  and  to-day  it  acknowl- 
edges as  scientific  truths  what  it  once  declared  to  be  heretical 
and  false;  thus  the  progress  of  truth,  civilization  and  science  goes 
on  year  after  year  independent  of  all  the  religions  of  the  earth 
and  any  church  that  refuses  to  bring  itself  in  harmony  with  them 
will  be  crushed  beneath  them  and  destroyed,  and  as  the  ages 
roll  on  every  religion,  belief  and  doctrine  that  are  contrary  to 
science  and  human  reason  will  be  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Oh  what  a  beautiful  world  this  would  be  if  the  followers 
of  all  religions  would  cast  away  their  absurd  and  imaginary  Gods 
and  only  believe  in  one  Supreme  Creator  and  teach  their  future 
generations  how  to  become  noble  men  and  women,  by  giving 
them  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  practical  truths  of  life,  instead 
of  long  and  useless  prayers  to  saints,  pages  of  Catechism  etc.. 
how  quickly  then  would  peace  and  happiness  appear  and  hatred 
and  discord  vanish  if  man  had  been  taught  to  be  guided  only  by 
his  reason  and  better  sentiments,  instead  of  by  a  tyrannical  and 
fanatical  priesthood,  there  never  would  have  been  those  religious 
persecutions  and  atrocities  that  even  the  "ungodly  infidels"  are 
ashamed  of.  The  pilgrimage  to  St.  Anne  de  Beaupre  came  off, 
1,500  people  went,  but  out  of  all  the  pilgrims  not  one  was  cured, 
which  Le  Blanc  informed  me  was  for  want  of  faith;  on  the  con- 
trary I  believe  they  have  too  much  credulity.  Rev.  E.  Chilling- 
worth  and  Miss  Mavor  have  arrived  on  a  visit  at  Sherman's,  the 
latter  I  have  met  when  a  little  child.  Rev.  E.  C.  is  over  6  ft. 
high,  has  black  hair,  whiskers  and  mustache,  and  has  a  frank 
and  pleasing  countenance;  Miss  M.  has  a  light  olive  complexion, 
a  pretty  physique  and  a  sweetly  melodious  voice,  which  are 
somewhat  counteracted  by  a  slight  squint  and  her  nose  (from  an 
accident,  is  somewhat  bent  to  one  side;  had  services  on  Sunday; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  323' 

Miss  M's  voice  is  very  rich  and  powerful  and  can  ascend  to  the 
highest  note  without  any  apparent  effort,  Mr.  C.  preached  ex- 
temporaneously on  the  life  and  character  of  St.  Peter  and  exag- 
gerated his  virtues  and  talents  to  a  most  absurd  degree,  I  doubt 
if  even  an  R.  C.  priest  v/ould  have  preached  more  nonsense;  one 
would  imagine  from  his  sermon  that  St.  Peter  was  a  being  of  su- 
perior creation  to  the  rest  of  mankind;  I  thought  to  myself  at  the 
close  of  the  sermon  when  some  ladies  quietly  remarked  to  each 
other  "what  a  beautiful  character  St.  Peter  had,"  that  if  that  Sainti 
could  be  brought  back  and  introduced  to  them  that  they  would 
be  greatly  disappointed;  I  however  admired  the  apparent  sincer-* 
ity  of  the  Rev.  C,  C.  and  feel  confident  that  he  imagined  that  every 
word  he  said  was  truth.  I  thought  to  myself  what  a  wonderful 
creature  is  man,  he  can  be  trained  to  be  one  of  the  noblest  beings 
of  all  creation  or  one  of  the  most  despicable,  and  in  most  cases 
it  depends  upon  his  parents  and  instructors  whether  he  is  to  be  a 
degraded  heathen,  a  superstitious  Catholic,  a  half  enlightened 
Protestant  or  a  grand  noble  being.who  allows  none  of  the  fraudu- 
lent revelations  or  commands  of  ecclesiastical  tyrants,  either  an- 
cient or  modern,  to  dictate  or  interfere  with  his  reasoning  powers 
or  freedom  of  thought.  The  more  I  see  of  the  present  state  of 
Christianity  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  the  most  enlightened 
portion  of  mankind  are  rapidly  advancing  towards  another  period 
of  reformation  which  will  completely  remove  the  bogus  revela- 
tions and  absurd  superstitions  that  remained  after  the  most  out- 
rageous of  them  had  been  removed  by  Luther's  reformation.  Mrs. 
S.  invited  me  to  dinner;  Miss  M.  told  me  that  Herbert  Carmichael 
acted  like  a  regular  spooney  and  actually  had  the  cheek  to  pro- 
pose to  a  lady  friend  of  hers.  In  the  evening  read  in  a  book  on 
New  England  life  by  Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe,  Mr.  S.  amused  us  con- 
siderably by  his  perfect  imitation  of  Scotch,  Irish  and  Dutch 
brouge.  Rev.  C.  C.  and  Miss  M.  are  to  be  married  next  week; 
they  have  been  intimate  friends  since  childhood;  as  they  passed 
Le  Blanc's  he  appeared  horrified  that  a  priest  of  God  should  dese- 
crate himself  by  marriage,  I  replied  that  even  from  the  Catholic 
translation  of  the  bible  nothing  could  be  found  in  favor  of  the  cel- 
ibacy of  the  clergy  for  in  Timothy  3  chap.  2d  verse  of  their  bible 
Paul  savs:  "It  behooveth  therefore  a  bishop  to  be  blameless,  the 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH   IN  AMERICA. 

husband  ofone  wife,"  also  said  that  the  celibacy  of  tlie  clerrjy  was 
only  ordained  of  the  church  and  was  not  scriptural,  that  ifa  \ oung 
minister  felt  he  could  do  more  good  and  preach  the  [n)spel  with 
greater  ease  by  remainiuLj  unmarried  he  iiad  a  [)erfcct  ri<Tht  to  do 
so,  but  if  he  felt  influenced  by  one  of  the  noblest  sentiments  that 
a  Supreme  Creator  gave  to  n)an  and  loved  a  good  young  lady 
why  should  he  not  marry  her  and  by  their  gootl  and  holy  life  set 
a  bright  example  to  their  parishoners,  and  who  would  be  more 
fitted  in  visiting  their  parishoners  to  take  the  hand  of  a  sister  in 
trouble  or  disgrace  than  the  wife  of  the  minister  and  with  good 
advice  and  loving  words  plead  with  that  sister  and  bring  her  back 
to  a  noble  and  useful  life;  I  iilso  maintained  from  a  Pjotcstant 
point  of  view  that  the  heads  of  the  church  had  no  right  to  make 
ordinances  contrary  to  scripture  which  the  church  itself  had  given 
to  the  world  as  a  book  divinely  inspired;  1  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  the  Saints  take  a  logical  view  of  this  text  and  can  defend 
themselves  against  any  other  christian  sect  in  controversy  on  it. 
The  Catholics  inconsistentlv  acknowledge  that  St.  Paul  was  di- 
vinely  inspired  and  yet  at  the  same  time  their  clergy  refuse  to 
obey  his  command  by  living  a  life  of  celibacy,  which  from  a  scrip- 
tural point  of  view  is  far  more  contradictory  to  its  teaching  than 
the  interpretation  the  Saints  give  it  namely,  "that  a  bishop  i.hould 
be  the  husband  of .'  t  least  one  wife."  The  human  race  h.owever 
will  as  it  gets  more  civilized  cast  away  with  disgust  and  indigna- 
tion all  the  fraudulent,  barbarous  and  blasphemous  so  called  rev- 
elatio  s  of  our  savage  ancestors,  but  to  accomplish  this  all  men 
with  the  interests  of  humanity  at  heart  must  fearlessly  and  per- 
severingly  raise  their  voices  in  favor  of  truth,  liberty  .aid  reason, 
and  not  through  the  cowardly  fear  of  being  unpopular  and  un- 
fashionable hide  fiom  their  fellow  men  their  lionest  contempt  for 
a  religion  that  asserts  that  God  created  the  atrocious  laws  of  war, 
divorce  and  slavery  that  are  found  in  the  4  books  of  Moses;  some 
christian  apologists  say  that  those  laws  were  created  for  the 
savage  people  of  those  days  which  is  as  much  as  to  .'^ay  that  God 
wmked  at  their  wickedne-'^  and  tolerated  laws  in  former  dajs 
that  all  civilized  men  now  regard  as  brutal  and  unjust.  Let  the 
liberal  reader  study  thoroughly  the  so-called  laws  of  God  revealed 
to  Moses  and  compare  them  fearlessly  and  impartially  with    'le 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  325 

civilized  laws  of  the  present  day  and  in  9  cases  out  of  10  the  bet- 
ter sentiments  of  his  nature  will  revolt  against  tli«j  diabolical  sav- 
a<^e  brutality  of  laws  that  set  a  price  on  the  head  of  slaves  and 
reduced  the  fairest,  purest  and  gentlest  sex  to  a  .state  of  slavery 
and  lielpless  dcpendancy  on  her  husband;  even  in  the  new  and 
improved  dispensation  of  Christ  women  do  not  get  perfect  jus- 
tice for  ui  ICphesians  6tii  chap,  and  22d  verse  it  says:  "wives  sub- 
mit yourselves  unto  your  husbands  as  unto  the  Lord,  for  the  hus- 
band is  head  of  the  wife  even  as  Christ  is  head  of  the  church,  is 
subject  unto  Christ  so  that  the  wives  be  subject  unto  tiieir  hus- 
bands in  everytiing,"  and  in  thi  next  ver.-<e  it  only  says  to  the 
husb.md  '*love  your  wives,"  Thui  through  all  the  figes  of  chris- 
tian iiistorv  wonKin  has  been  re^iarded  as  an  inferior  creature  de- 
pendant  on  man  and  has  not  been  allowed  to  speak  in  churches 
or  occupy  the  position  she  is  entitled  to,  that  of  being  a  man's 
partner  and  peifect  equal.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  until 
quite  recently  the  women  of  Christianity  never  received  as 
good  an  education  as  the  men  and  merely  occupied  the  po- 
sitions of  housekeepers  and  drawingroom  ornaments  in  their 
husbands  homes.  Dun  is  comini?  back  next  week  and  I  can- 
not  say  that  I  am  sorry  as  the  damp  hot  atmosphere  of  the 
factory  is  unhealthy  for  me  and  I  still  have  a  most  irritating 
cough;  I  have  also  some  trouble  as  regards  my  eating  ar- 
rangements, Mrs.  Le  Blanc  washes  her  children,  handles  the 
baby  and  then  cuts  bread  for  our  dinner  without  washing  her 
hands;  also  saw  her  eldest  boy  who  washes  the  dishes  pick 
his  nose  while  putting  some  dishes  in  the  cupboard.  Mr. 
Ihibideau  is  an  expert  fisherman  and  has  caught  several  mask- 
longe  that  weighed  2^  to  3  yi  lbs.  each.  Sherman's  have  had 
several  lady  and  gentlemen  guests  of  late,  among  them  Miss 
Crandal,  a  young  lady  of  plain  but  pleasing  features  and  a 
poor  physique;  also  a  Miss  Miller,  formerly  a  Miss  Mavor,  who 
against  her  will  received  the  attentions  of  Walter  Crandal,  she, 
however,  was  indifferent  to  him;  he  then  in  desperation  flirted 
with  several  other  ladies  to  try  and  make  her  jealous,  but  with- 
out success;  after  which  he  became  deeply  enamored  with 
Mabel  VVilloughby;  she,  however,  only  received  his  attentioiis 
with  a  sisterly,  friendly  contempt;  he  in  disgust  and  dispair  mar- 


326  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

ried  a  Miss  Price,  whose  amiability  is  unbounded,  but  whose 
physical  beauty  is  utterly  bankrupt,  having  a  chubby,  flabby 
face  frightfully  marked  with  the  smallpox  and  a  short,  stout 
physique.  Have  read  many  of  Charles  Dicken's  works  of  late, 
and  give  my  humble  opinion  that  he  is  the  king  of  character 
describers.  During  the  last  few  weeks  we  have  been  repairing 
the  factory;  there  has  been  two  boiler  makers  from  Pt.  Levi  to 
repair  the  boilers,  some  of  which  kaked;  have  collected  an  im- 
mense amount  of  reliable  facts  and  statistics  for  my  history  of 
the  world,  especially  from  Australian  newspapers  which  I  take 
and  those  of  Gt.  Britain  and  Canada.  Mr.  LeBlanc  has  given 
me  a  Jules  Verne  description  of  a  trial  of  Socialists  in  Europe 
which  says,  "that  the  culprit  struck  his  two  cuff  buttons  together 
saying,  'thus  shall  perish  all  who  resist  our  efforts  to  liberate  the  ' 
oppressed  people,'  and  that  he  and  the  whole  court  was  blown  to 
atoms  "  Although  explosives  are  being  improved  yearly  I  ridi- 
culed the  idea  of  their  being  so  powerful  as  this,  and  told  him 
that  the  miserable  little  French  paper  that  his  wife  reads  to  him 
was  guilty  of  gross  exaggeration;  Clutie,  his  brother-in-law  is 
in  sympathy  with  the  republican  party  in  France,  which  is  a 
rarity  among  French  Canadians;  he  says  the  crops  are  splendid 
at  St.  Monique  and  invited  me  there.  Miss  Kate  Watts  told  me 
that  I  was  a  regular  hermit  for  not  coming  to  see  them  oftner;  I 
replied  that  after  working  12  hours  out  of  the  24  I  had  very  little 
time  left  for  sleep,  study  and  visiting.  Mrs.  S.  informed  me  that 
several  of  Mr.  B's  fashionable  relatives  from  England  were  on  a 
visit  a  his  house,  and  that  unfortunately  Mrs.  B.  was  suffering 
from  Canadian  cholera  as  well  as  several  other  people  in  Charles- 
bourg;  Mrs.  S.  takes  great  interest  in  reading  about  the  faith 
cures.  Received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Hogarth  saying  that  he  was 
coming  to  America  I  answered  giving  him  all  the  information 
he  required,  asking  him  for  a  description  of  life  in  Germany.  The  , 
Stratford  Herald,  Ontario,  says:  "We  let  even  the  Indians 
govern  themselves,  and  yet  some  people  have  doubts  whether 
the  Irish  are  fit  to  govern  them^'elves.  Let  them  try  and  if  they 
do  not  do  it  well  they  alone  will  have  to  bear  the  consequences." 
I  reply  that  the  writer  of  the  above  cannot  have  the  interest  of 
our  empire  at  heart.     The  idea!     "Let  them  try,  they  alone  will 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  327 

have  to  bear  the  consequences."  In  the  first  place,  Gt.  Britain 
has  not  enough  territory  around  the  center  of  its  vitality  and 
power.  The  const:int  emmigration  from  Gt.  Britain  is  a  proof  of 
this.  Is  she  then  to  part  with  a  quarter  of  the  whole  united 
kingdom?  and  have  only  99,325  sq.  miles  of  territory  instead  of 
121,138,  a  loss  of  32,513  sq.  miles,  capable  of  sustaining  10,000,- 
000  inhabitants.  Is  this  a  small  item  to  .  nation  that  has  been 
the  first  rate  power  of  the  earth  for  many  years,  but  through  a 
mad  colonial  policy  can  have  little  hope  to  continue  so  much 
longer;  her  legislators  have  been  indifferent  to  the  preservation 
of  the  mightiest  empire  that  ever  existed;  they  lost  the  grand 
opportunity  of  allowing  tlie  greatest  colony,  the  U.  S.  to  be 
represented  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  Those  days  are,  how- 
ever, past  and  the  Englishmen  of  the  present  day  are  determined 
not  to  allow  the  Irish  to  become  a  free  and  independent  nation, 
for  the  very  reason  that  they  could  not  be  trusted  in  event  of  a 
war  and  what  is  still  worse  Ireland  in  all  probability  would  form 
a  stepping  stone  and  recruiting  field  for  the  enemies  of  the  British 
Empire,  besides  Britain  herself  would  lose  Ireland  as  a  recruit- 
ing field  from  which  she  gets  some  of  the  best  of  her  soldiers. 
Ireland,  however,  as  well  as  England  is  in  leed  of  just  laws  to 
do  away  with  the  feudal  evil  of  landlordism.  I  have  been  paid 
by  the  company  for  the  last  9  weeks  and  sent  $']Q  to  uncle 
Richard  to  put  in  the  bank  for  me;  during  the  last  9  weeks  I 
only  spent  ;^i;  I  am  proud  of  my  economy.  Poor  Defosa  still 
drink**  heavily,  and  one  morning  in  a  fit  of  the  blues  said,  I  have 
a  great  mind  to  clear  off  to  the  States.  I  told  him  he  should 
have  taken  my  advice  and  not  try  and  force  his  v  le  to  live  with 
him  through  the  influence  of  the  priest  and  Grand  Vicaire,  that 
he  should  first  live  a  better  life  which  w^s  the  only  way  to 
win  back  his  wife's  afTection  and  respect;  when  she  would 
say  to  herself  my  husband  has  acted  nobly  and  conquered 
his  faults,  I  now  see  I  have  wronged  him;  I  should  not  have 
left  him  alone  in  temptation  and  despair,  I  should  have  remained 
with  him  and  with  unceasing  love,  gentleness  and  good  advise 
have  tried  to  aid  him  to  reform;  I  tell  you  Defosa,  you  have 
both  acted  wrong,  and  the  one  that  first  redresses  their  faults  acts 
the   most  noble   part,   regains   the   admiration    and   respect  of 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

their  ftUow-men;  but  even  supposinjr  all  the  wrong  was  on  your 
wife's  part,  you  should  as  lier  husb.uid  use  your  utiiio»t  efforts  to 
reform  her,  but  this  you  Well  know  is  not  the  case,  thou^^h  she 
has  her  faults  and  has  been  foolishly  influenced  by  your  step- 
mother, she  still  loves  you,  and  if  you  only  act  a  manly  noble 
part,  you  will  be  able  to  correct  her  faults  as  well  as  your  own, 
and  live  a  happy  life  with  a  wife  that  you  should  be  pioud  of  in- 
stead of  doing  what  you  now  propose  to  do,  travel  about  the 
world  a  discontented  miserable  man;  perhaps  you  may  '.hink  it 
Strange  for  me  to  advise  you  and  taUe  n(;lice  ol  your  greatest 
fault,  but  if  you  do  you  should  bear  in  mind  that  if  only  peJect 
men  reproved  the  faults  of  others,  faults  would  remain  lorever 
iinreproved;  a  man  who  would  injure  a  ielluw  man's  character 
by  speaking  of  his  fiults  deserves  the  contemj  t  of  all  honorable 
men,  but  any  man  that  reproves  his  brother's  faults  in  piivate 
and  persuades  him  to  abandon  them,  is  a  friend  of  humanity,  and 
the  sympathy  and  advice  he  extends  to  his  feliow-man  elevates 
his  own  character  as  well  as  his  friends;  to  illustrate  more  clear- 
ly 1  shall  suppose  that  you  are  extravagant,  and  by  false  gener- 
osity are  certain  to  end  your  days  m  poverty,  and  llr-it  1  am  av- 
aricious and  miserly,  we  are  friends  and  often  meet,  it  is  your 
duty  to  keep  constantly  bringing  to  my  notice  that  I  am  guilty 
of  false  economy,  and  fc^.olishiy  depriving  myself  of  the  coniltdts 
of  life,  thus  by  blendmg  our  two  extreme  opinions  together,  in  a 
friendly  manner  we  persuade  each  other  that  we  have  str  lyed  loo 
far  from  that  grand  word,  moderation.  Read  a  book  c.illed  '  John 
Inglesani,"  which  gives  a  good  portrayal  ol  the  events  and  char- 
acters of  the  Crommelian  period  in  English  history.  Letter  from 
Unc'.e  Richard,  dated  Oct.  1st.  *'Dear  Arthur,  enclo.^ed  it.  a  re- 
ceipt in  full  for  the  payment  of  the  money  you  owi-d  me,  and  the 
balance  of  the  amount  you  sent  me,  $46.37  1  deposited  at  3  per 
ct  interest,  when  you  make  the  sum  a  little  larger  I  will  invest 
it  for  you  at  6  per  ct.,  I  could  get  7  or  8  but  not  en  such  secur- 
ity as  1  could  lecommend;  Tom  has  just  gone  home,  he  came  in 
to  see  me  about  the  wages  of  the  men  he  has  hired  which  amounts 
to  $50;  it  grieved  me  to  see  him  look  so  wan  and  anxious,  1  know 
his  debts  are  a  grieveous  burden  to  him;  the  dear  fellow,  when 
he  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  a  man  on  account  of  his  lameness,  I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  32Q  i 

01  :  i         .  ,. 

could  s^e'a  tear  in' his   eye  .wjiicU  made  my   heart  ache,  ^26  a   • 
morith  for  hired 'help  and  aothing  comingf  in  is  a  serious  state  of 
afitalrs;rnay'the  Lord  strengthen,  a,i;id  comfprt  him   and  put.  it 
into  his  fri^hds  hearts  to  assist  hjm;  kind  sympathy   is  a   good 
thiiig  but  you  know  it  will  not ,  ipake,  the  pot  boil,  la  the  mean 
timfe  I  have  advanced  him  su Hi cient  money  to  pay|h'is  Vnostpres^ 
sin^  debts.    1  propose  to  you  thaf:  if  yon  wilf,  fcir^i^^e'  hirri  thc> 
debt  he  oWes^you  I  will  also  forgive  him  what 'He  bwe's'me,  by  <  ; 
.  so  doihg'WC  will  take  a.  great  load  pffhis  shoulders;  please  God 
I  shall  ndt  be  in  such  tight  cirQU  nstances  in   a  yh   or  so  as  at    1 
preseiU  most  of  my  money  is  invested    in  property;  as   regards 
your  claim  on  your  brothe^r,  you  ^can  never  collect  it  as  the  prop- 
erty \k  s6  held  by  your  Uncle  J^rrold  and  I  that'  if  you  sUed  him    . 
you  tould'not  touch  the.  1  nd^,  besides  if  all'yoUr  friends  know 
th^t  you  re'fusedto  help  your  br(?ther  they  wbiald  condemn  you;    . 
I  tell  you  that  if  you  refuse  to  aid  your  brother  you  will  be  hooted   1 
out  of  the  society  of  your  friends,  and  their  doors  closed  m  your 
face  as 'if  you  \l^'ere  a  venomous  viper;  I  l<now  my  dear  Arthur 
that  none  of  tiiese  remarks  can  or  will  be  applied  to  you,  I  am 
m^ereiy  showing  you  the  other  side  of  the  que^ition,  and  you  1  am 
certain  Will  grant  my.  request  aid  5e;nd  ,  nie  his  note  to  you  for 
^265  and'  I'shaU  send,  it.to.  hiin  with  a,  receipt'  for  whaithe  owes 
nie,  aft^r  all  it^  will  only  be  an  mveslment,  for  if  either  of  usAvere 
sick  6r  sore*  we  vi^ould  be  isuie  of  a  home  arid   a 'welcome  with 
libm;  I  am  glud  to,seathat,yoLi   h^ye  been  able  tb  mike  a  good 
beginning  with  regard  to  saving  mpney;  after  a  little  time  after  it 
accumulates  ft   will  make  you   indepiin^dant  of  your  situation; 
ther6  is'no  money- so  valuable  as,t|iat,  made  by  your  oWn' honest 
industry.   '  The  exhibition,  wa^  not  as  good'  as  u'sual;  we  have 
some  friends  from*  New   York  city  ^tayin^  with'  us  just  now;  I 
iope  during  the  winter  you  will  be  able  to  jpay  us  a  ^isit;  we  ex- 
oect  Mabel  home  next  month  fro.m  En,giandj  yoUr  alUnt  and  Clif- 
"ord  u'nrte  in  love;  believe  ime  to  remain  dear*  At'thur,  your  lov- 
ing un'cle,  Richard  Goldsmith..",    Fjrom  a  letter  in   i-eply:  '*!  was 
extrentely  sorry  to  hear  of  Tom's  difficulties  and  I  assure  you  I 
never  would  have  asked  him  to,g,ive  me  a^note  for  n'ly  half  of  the 
movables  on  Elmbrooke,  had  I  not  tljiougnt  that  Tom  ahd  father, 
with  what  they  possessed,   and   Tom's    income   frbrii   England, 

42 


330  HISTORY  OF  TriE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

could  live  in  a  most  comfortable  manner  until  I  got  a  start  in  the 
woi  Id,  but  it  seems  I  have  been  mistaki-n,  so  1  consent  with 
pleasure  to  your  generous  ptoi)o>.ition;  truly  mine  would  be  the 
deepest  of  ingratitude  did  I  hesitate  a  moment  to  consent,  even 
if  I  had  lost  all  sense  of  my  duty  and  affjction  to  my  fithcr  and 
brother,  the  inlluence  alone  of  your  life's  example  should  have 
made  me  readily  consent  but  I  am  happy  to  say  I  love  my  brother 
and  wish  to  do  my  duty  towards  my  father."  From  a  letter  from 
rTom.  "I  am  not  progressmg  as  fast  as  I  wish  with  harvesting  . 
as  it  has  not  stopped  raining  for  some  time  past,  I  have  the  bar- 
ley, buckwheat  and  2  acres  of  oats  out  yet  anil  ripe  for  these  2 
weeks  past;  I  have  been  working  a  gr.inary  in  the  shed  and 
lined  the  corners  with  tin  to  [)revent  rat^  and  mice  from  enterin;^; 
I  have  had  p.-jor  health  of  late,  lost  20  lbs.  in  weight  during  the 
summer;  only  weigh  120  i)ounds."  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hogarth, 
lold  hini  that  the  grand  primeval  forests  around  Aston  had  al- 
most disappeared,  and  tangled  trunks  of  trees  heaped  in  confu- 
sion one  on  another  had  taken  their  place,  and  in  many  places  in 
a  charred  and  blackened  state,  and  advised  him  to  settle  in  Man- 
itoba. IVlrs  Fairburn  has  returned  from  Fngland,  a  long  jour- 
ney for  Mrs.  Sherman's  mother  who  is  over  80;  told  Le  l^lanc 
that  from  my  j)oint  of  view  not  all  the  prayers  of  all  the  saints 
and  priests  that  ever  existed  could  better  the  condition  of  man  in 
the  other  world,  and  that  all  the  excommunications  of  all  the 
religions  of  the  earth  could  lessen  the  happiness  of  a  good 
man's  hereafter,  even  though  he  ridiculed  their  supernatural  lies, 
also  that  I  was  greatly  disgusted  while  at  the  parish  church  to 
see  lazy  vagabonds,  drunkards,  blasphemers,  slanderers  and  men 
living  in  open  sin,  go  and  kneel  v/n'h  the  most  devout  and  pure 
and  eat  what  they  believed  to  be  the  real  flesh  of  a  merciful  and 
loving  God,  that  if  these  men  were  filled  with  sincere  contrition 
and  desire  to  lead  a  better  life  the  sight  would  not  be  so  disgust- 
ing, but  that  they  had  not,  for  I  had  seen  many  of  them  that  came 
from  that  table  with  the  taste  of  the  flesh  yet  in  their  mouths  bt- 
£\n  to  laugh  and  utter  stinking  jokes,  that  would  do  credit  to  the 
vilest  scoundrel  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  that  same  evening 
get  beastly  drunk,  and  yet  the  priest  knowingly  allows  the  body 
of  his  God  to  be  thus  defiled,  told  him  that  the  priesthood  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  33  I 

cliurch  prcfcrrt'd  to  possess  power,  wealth  and  influence  for  their 
church  even  thouj^li  they  sacrific:'d  purity  and  the  approbation, 
of  a  Supreme  Cie.itor.  While  at  service  at  Sherman's  the  bin^- 
in^  was  very  feeble,  Mr.  S.  pd>sed  around  a  plate  to  collect  nioiiey 
ft)r  the  lii.shop  of  Alj^oma's  yacht,  whieh  he  is  to  use  for  mission 
purposes  on  the  i^real  lakes,  when  the  plate  reached  Mrs.  VVatt9» 
she  had  no  money  and  to  make  matters  worse  siie  said  "1  have  no 
money  but  will  bi  in^  you  some  to  morrow."  I  felt  both  admira^ 
tion  and  pity  for  poor  Miss  Kate  VV.  who  blushed  to  the  roots  of 
her  hair  at  the  stupidity  of  her  mother,  and  she  must  have  blushed 
in  earnest  for  me  to  have  noticed  it,  for  her  complexion  is.  a  dark 
olive.  In  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Holdcn  he  said  he  was  dis- 
«rusted  when  a  eiiild  at  bein^ij  confirmed  against  his  wishes,  and 
with  the  evident  hypocrisy  of  many  of  tliose  wiio  professed  to  be 
Christians,  and  from  his  remarks  I  saw  thtt  he  is  inclined  towards 
Djisiii,  but  at  the  samj  timj  hi  acknowljd^^js  th.it  Protestant-, 
ism  is  the  purest,  noblest  and  most  elevated  religion  on  the  face-, 
of  the  earth;  and  says  he  will  have  his  ciiildren  tauj^ht  that  rC'^ 
lij^ion  for  their  mother's  sake  and  their  own,  on  account  of  the, 
gre.it  prejudice  that  exists  at  the  present  day  against  those  whoi 
do  not  belong  to  some  special  religion  or  church,  From  a  letter 
to  Tom;  "Oct.  13th  '82.  I  was  sorry  to  hear  that  you  are  un-. 
well,  now  do  not  kill  yourself  with  work,  remember  that  if  you, 
manage  well  the  inc(nne  and  property  you  have,  you  will  be  in, 
independ.int  circumstances  in  a  few  yrs ;  physical  strength  is  a 
mere  "bagetelle"  when  compared  to  those  mental  qualities  Miafr 
have  raised  thousands  of  men  from  poverty  to  afflujnce;  if  you. 
could  only  resolve  to  spend  money  for  what  is  absolutely  useful' 
and  necessary  and  make  no  improvements  on  your  i'  nd  that  did 
not  give  5  per  ct.  with  the  outlay,  you  would  be  certain  to  suc-< 
ceed.  Reed  a  letter  from  Uncle  Richard  saying  that  you  were 
rather  short  of  capital,  and  generously  proposing  to  cancel  your-, 
debt  if  I  would  do  the  same  with  your  note,  which  I  did  with  the 
greatest  of  pleasure,  although  you  may  think  I  should  have  giv- 
en it  to  you  of  my  own  accord,  and  that  I  was  rather  close  in  my, 
transactions  with  you,  but  I  assure  you  no  one  takes  a  greatec 
interest  In  your  welfare  than  I  do,  and  this  is  perfectly,  natui;a,l 
seeing  that  besides  myself  you  are  the  only  one  in  our  family 


:?    332  ,.,  ..,I^;STORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

'  *• ^r'    T  \. 

•  that  remains  In  this  country   to  preserve  the  honor  and  reputa- 
.  » tation,  of  oyr  family,, this  I'  ti^Ust  My  dear  Tom   you  wi,ll.^ccom- 
I  plish  by  becoming  an  ettergetic  knd  prosperous,  fartrier,  and  liv- 
,  ing|thfi,lijre  dfa  perfect  gentltman;  you   haver  vile  .'jiirroun dings 
,and  a?soci9|tes^  break '  awajl^  from   their  contaminating  influence 
I  fejit  they  ^dr^g  you'd6wh  td  tlieir'own  level)  if  you  W|iiph  to.  live  a 
.,.\happy  ,9fld,  li,onoraDle   life^  dVbid  the.  low  and  vulgar  ^soc,iety  of 
ii  lyoiiffipei^bf^prs,  aivvay^  dtck^  neatly,  gb   to  St.  Mark's   (phurch 
i4^,!reg;u,lAriy,jOiji  account  of  thci  ^ocid  sbciety  y/oiKwill   a?qe^  there, 
I  .fivjsjtat  l^ast  oiice  a  week  sbmte'  of 'the  most  refinct^  fti^d    agree- 
•  t-able  p?,op\e  ^n  ^  Aston    and  try'  and    Improve  your  mai;ipcrs  and 
\    iCO«ivqrsa,t,ioiial  powers  sb  ai  io  miike^your  sociiety    ,ag^•evpble  to 
t  .all;  dp,  P9t  ^think  you   hdVe'  succeeded   until  your  conversation 
.  and  fna^ner$  ^re  equall)^  intcfi^esting  to^  fetble   3Q^nd  lo,**sweet 
^i^teeniito  dp  this  systenlatic-ally  deW)te  2  hours,  a  c^ay  ^o  read- 
r,  ing;  first  of, all,  periect  yobr^^lf  in  the  practical  kpowle.dg^  requir- 
,  1  ed  ip  the  profession  of  agHculturd,  so  that  you,ca,n  foll,o\y  it  with 
--success,  a,nd , speak  in'telligeittiy'iabotat  dt  in  ,  society,  ,thejn    keep 
^  iyQur?elf,\Y,e|l(gpund'dd  ort  the  leAding subjects  qf  theiday,  giving 
them  yQV>r  serious  co'ns(d6rati6n'\v.henevdr  you  can  dp  sp,  instead 
1 '.of  thinking  about   silly '"^hit  chat"  let  your   thoug^i?   (^well  on 
igrand  apd  ysetul  subjects,  on  your  way  to  .Or  frorq  market,  or  at 
your  ^Tiqals  or  everi'atVbrk^brt  your  fahn,  employ  your  thoughts 
in  fprip^ng  your  oplrii'on^  on 'the  great  events  and;  questions  of  the 
(day,  .using, truth,  arid  justifce  as  your  guides^;  of.  course  while  you 
are  ^t  >vorl^  you' should  rieveir'  allow  your  thought?  to  ipjure  the 
quality  pf  your  work',  SuclV  a's  making  ;crooked,  furrows  &c.,  but 
the,c9mmeijcial,  profession^!' or  laboring,  nianx  who  cap  /do  a  per- 
fect .day.s  work  at;  his  pk*6fe'^sibn  or  trade  and i  at  t^e  ?ame  time 
hc^vq  3,or  4  hours  seribhs'thoiS^ht  on  worthy  >3ubjqcts,.has  add- 
ed 4  ho,"n  to  his  lile;'s6'me  m^  by 'systerpatiieally  doing  this  add 
as  mup^.a^  29  yrs.to  their  lives;  above  lall  things;, in  conversation 
ini  society  pqverbe'om   to  sf)eak   dn  a- subject, before   you  have 
ithought  it,9U^,  if  yoii  doit' will  not  be  considered  interesting  and 
iwijl  ,bq  criticised  afterWcircls;  my  life  still  runsi  injthe  same  groove, 
l.2,houts  work,  6  houVs  sleep  and'  -6  hours-.for  taking  meals  and 
Study,. anflai^  pccasiohal  Evening 'at  Mr. -Shern^an's   or  WattF; 
tell  father  I  am  going  to  s^iid  him  ^  money /shortly  ^  also  that  I  re- 


•  \ 


n. 


»    1 


I     I 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  333 

quest  hiHitb  attend  St.   Marks  chur^l|,. which  deserves  to  be  en- 
couraged in  the  good  work  it  is  doing,  for  although  wd  chnnot 
"'agreei  with  ^11.' ititeaqhes^,  it, is ^ perfectly  justifiable  to  encourage  it 
•    for  the  great  amount  of]  good  it  dccOmplisnes.     Went  to  a  husk, 
ing  party  at   Mr.  Cliities  ^t  St.  Moni'gue  With  Le  Biano  and  sev- 
'  'tiral  olhers.drove  througji  a  level  couhti'y  in'  ci'  Nortb-wcsterly 

•  'direotioni,  in  whicJi,,thQre  |Was  considerable  attiOunt 'of  second 

'  "pjrowth  and  wood  la^t;!  interspersed  until  we  reached  duties  farm, 

'"prettily  situated  on  the,  edge  of  a!   dee^  rkvirie   surrounded  by  a 

'   grove  of'pine.j^in,  which  gr^V^  an  enoi^molis  Vine  with  its  brtinches 

'  spr^cading  through  t}ie  bfanches  of  the  trefes;  it  bears  very  small 

grapes.,  Arrived  at  tjie  house  singmg"  a  ^g'Jiy 'Frfnoh 'Song;  the 

'  'hiusking  /vyas    going  on  in  the  back  kitdheh,  thdru  were  about  30 

*  persons   chiefly,  young  people;  most  df  thi  young   girls  were 
>    'dressed  in  cahco,  Ipolying  very  neat  With  pieces  of  lace  and  rib- 

'bonadbrningi  their,  costumes;  Mrs.  Clutic  conducted  me,  into  the 
'    living  room  and  .took,  my  gloves,  hat' and   ON^^rcoat;  had  she  had 
'any  daughters,  sufficientljy^  old  they  '  would   have  performed  this 
-  'duty,  on  r.eturning  she  intr(j)duced   nie  to  Mfss  'Le  Blanc,  a  very 
'    sociable  little  "brunette/'  with  whorri  I  Sbon  Commenced  an  an- 
imated conversation;  Sjhe  , shortly  aftel*  'introduced  me  to  her  2 
'   sisters  who.  wore   merino   dresses  'And  were' dressed  with  great 
'  taste,  having  even  dainty^  little  gold    watched,  theyoould   speak 
'English  better  than  JFrench,  an'd  appear*  to  'Be  grejltlybenefited  by 
'  their  long  residqnqe  in   the  New  England"  states;  yet  as  is  usual 
'With  factory. girl^   they  spend  all  their  nioney  On  dress;  it  some- 
'  what  aimused.me  to  think  that  these  girls  at  home  live  on  buck- 
'   wheat  cakesi  and  fat,  pofk,  and   theh  '  appear  at'  a  husking  party 
'    (much  to. the  cbagrji),  0|f^iyal  belles)  dressed  like  ladies;  the  con- 
'■  'versatidn  as  is  usual,  with  young  Canadiah  people*  was  not  gener- 
'     al, 'each  young  m^r^  conversed  only  to  his   Companion,. in  an  un  • 
'  dertone  with  only   .an  occasiopal   reinark   to  those   sitting  near 
'   him;  the  convers^tio|i  was  better  thati 'is  Usual  among  the  Cana- 
dian people,  .in  fact  thpre    were  only  a  feW  dozen  or  so  improper 
'    remarks,:  and  these,  were  only  a  few  degrees  below  decency;  the 
'  evening  might  h^ve  passed  thusj'h^d  there 'not 'bden  in  the  com- 
pany a  young  mai>  w,hom  the    girls   regarded   As   a  "polisson," 
:    dome  of  the  girls  |wop}d  npt  sit  by  him,  he  revenged  himself  by 


334  HISTORY  OF  the  French  in  America. 

grossly  insulting  them  by  the  use  of  horribly  indecent  language, 
at  which  one  of  the  young  men,  whose  companion  he  insulted, 
challenged  him  out  to  fii;ht,  which  however  Chutie  prevented; 
some  of  the  couples  worked  industriously  at  husking  corn,  but 
many  others  passed  rr.ost  of  the  time  in  whispering  sentimental 
nonsense  to  each  othei;  after  the  husking  had  been  finished, 
boiled  corn  and  salt  were  passed  around,  after  which  there  was 
dancing  until  one  o'clock;  went  to  church  next  morning  with  the 
family,  country  slightly  undulating;  the  valley  through  which  thj 
Norbert  river  runs  is  about  150  below  the  surrounding  country 
and  half  a  mile  wide,  country  sandy  in  some  places  and  dry  in 
others;  a  few  well  cultivated  farms  and  many  deserted  and  ill 
xept;  St.  Morigue  having  no  rly.  or  market  to  infuse  life  into  it 
is  a  very  stagnant  little  village  with  an  enormous  church,  the  in- 
side especially  is  very  tastefully  finished.  I  also  imagined  I  was 
in  a  Greek  temple  when  1  gazed  on  the  large  Corinthian  pillars, 
the  whole  height  of  the  interior  of  the  church  and  painted  so 
well  that  one  miyjlit  almost  imagine  them  to  be  marble;  the  ser- 
vice as  I  have  previously  remarked  resembled  an  uninteresting 
pantomime;  there  was  no  sermon,  the  priest  made  a  few  remarks 
against  certain  people,  who  left  before  the  service  was  over  and 
said  it  was  wrong  for  the  followers  of  the  true  church  to  show 
Protestants  and  barbarians  such  a  bad  example,  he  also 
read  a  "bull"  from  the  Pope  to  which  many  of  the  poor 
deluded  creatures  listened  as  if  the  words  were  from  God  himself; 
he  also  published  2  banns  for  marriage;  the  paintings  were  of  a 
somewhat  superior  sort  and  nearl/  life  size  of  Saints,  Apostles, 
etc,  with  gorgeous  gilt  frames;  a  minature  of  St,  Peter's  Church 
at  Rome  m  giit  extends  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the. church 
behind  the  altar  and  cost  I  was  informed  several  thousand  dol- 
lars; there  was  a  good  choir  and  a  fine  organ;  in  going  out  of 
the  church  I  was  somewhat  amused  to  see  the  coarse  figures  of 
the  rough  farmers  which  a  few  minutes  before  had  removed  a 
quid  of  filthy  tobacco  from  their  mouth,  dip  down  into  a  dirty 
looking  stone  basin  into  holy  water  and  make  a  sign  of  the  cross 
and  immediately  after  the  white  and  dainty  fingers  of  a  lady  go 
through  the  same  operation.  The  reader  can  imagine  how  holy 
and  clean  that  water  was  after  the  fingers  of  400  people  had  been 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  335 

dipped  into  it;  there  were  very  fjvv  men  dressed  in  homespun  or 
with  heefskin  moccasins  which  most  French  fanners  went  to 
church  in  a  few  yrs  ago;  in  aU  the  congregation  I  only  saw  one 
be;iver  hat  which  was  woi  n  by  the  lawyer  of  the  village,  soft  felt 
and  cloth  cips  bemg  mostly  worn;  many  of  the  women  wore 
flaming  shawls  and  the  old  fashioned  bonnet,  all  the  young  bt*lles 
of  course  dressed  in  the  latest  style  and  the  young  beaus  in  dark 
dress  suits  with  enormous  rings  and  watch  chains  and  their  hair 
saturated  with  hair  oil;  the  majority  of  the  men  lit  their  briar  and 
clay  pipes  on  coming  out  of  thj  church.  Called  at  the  postoffice 
which  was  also  a  store,  it  was  full  of  people  who  had  come  a  di'^- 
tance  from  the  country,  who  were  buying  groceries  and  other  ar- 
ticles; stopped  at  Le Blanc's  house  which  his  Americanized  daugh- 
ters have  made  look  very  neat  with  a  Si 25  organ,  rag  carpet  and 
numerous  nick  nacks  of  their  own  construction;  they  sang  to  my 
surprise  several  English  songs.  On  my  -way  back  a  very  large 
and  savage  dog  rushed  out  from  a  iiouse  and  kept  jumping  at  us 
behind  the  wagon  and  was  only  rendered  more  furious  by  several 
blows  of  the  whip,  finally  1  made  them  stop  the  wagon  and  I 
jumped  out  on  the  road  with  my  overcoat  on  my  arm,  the  dog 
for  a  moment  appeared  astonished  but  kept  running  towards  me, 
I  then  ran  quickly  forward  and  threw  the  heavy  overcoat  over  him 
beneath  which  l\e  struggled  several  moments  before  he  could  get 
it  off;  it  was  comical  to  see  the  puzzled  undecided  look  he  had 
then  on  him,  when  however  I  rushed  forward  at  him  yelling  in  a 
horrible  manner,  the  last  vestige  of  his  brute  courage  disappeared 
and  he  ran  for  his  life  in  the  somewhat  similar  manner  that  Mark 
Twain's  ''yaller  dog"  sneaked  into  Noah's  Ark.  The  overcoat 
idea  I  derived  from  a  friend  who  told  me  "he  would  not  be  atraid 
to  face  the  fiercest  dog  with  a  good  heavy  overcoat."  On  arriv- 
ing at  factory  village  spent  the  evening  at  Sherman's;  Mrs.  S. 
Mrs.  B.  and  myself  conversed  about  the  strange  anecdotes  that 
are  looked  on  by  many  as  authentic  of  which  I  give  this  sample. 
"The  wife  of  a  sea  captain  on  Monday  evening  saw  a  white  object 
flic  thro  the  room  and  said  to  her  friends  my  h  isband  is  drowned, 
when  true  enough  the  news  arri^/cs  that  he  was  drowned  on  the 
same  day,  same  hour  and  same  minute,  that  his  wife  saw  the 
white  object  which  some  people  imagine  was  the  spirit  of  the 


'''"•1.1  ...  I 

336.  ...     ,ji    .    HISTORY  Bl^t^EFkENCH  IN  AMti;klGA.,    ^j,,  ,  .., 

dead  man;  they  3eem,;tq  be  offHe.cxpinifen  that  the  spirit  of.h.u,man  . 
beings  have.  ppwerjt9  ijiflu^nce  the  thoughts  of  their  friends  whp, 
havb  a  great\many,  thougfits  in  com'mon  'with'  thetnj  .a4so  icon,- 
ver^ed  wi4:h  Mr^.  3., pfhow'di'fificult'it  fs  tor'  a  lady  to  become  .a, 
model  ho.stess;;$hj^,kindly  invit^'m'e  t'cipiass  GhristmaslatChailes^ 
bourg.  .."Wentto,^  hpf?^  rac6  at'  St-'LlbbiVej  there*  were  0Alyr2 
horses,  that  cou,ld,  be  ^called  ^odd   trbtiiers;  t'he  highest  pursei\y^s 
$2y,  the  entnancp  fpe  ,for  spec'tiators  oh  foot  I'o  tts;  wagons, aSiCt^s; 
thejudges  standiwas  of  rough  lumber;  there 'was  q  bell  .maij  to  , 
rin-g  back  ^the  uneyi^n  and  jfaTse  starts;'  -^hdre  wfere  several  hundred, 
peopleiin  their  bps.t  costume  a'nd  wagbrts;  toivards.^the  close  there 
was  no  such>thing, ,^s  ,ordqr  or  any  poss'ibility  of  keepir^g  Xh,e  , 
course  clear  o^  ,t,h,e  excited  peopjie  Who  Were 'veiry  nearly  junoy.er 
by  the. men  who  raced  on  horseback.     H.'  MiltOn's  wiifd deserted 
him.  for  aiwhjle  b^c^uj^^  he  objecteq  t6  her'going'^  to.  confession; 
she 'turned  Protestant  to  g^et  him  a'nd  rtbw'  has  turned*  back;  J 
think  it  served  hi^  fjgl^t.,    ?  think  if  I  loved  ^.womnn\ enough  to  , 
marry  her  that  I  ^yould  ajlso  love'  her  enough  tO'  respfect  her  i\e- 
li^ious  conviction?.  Letter  from  Cliflfbrd:  "'My  deai^Arthui%,father  i 
tells  nie  that  he: wrote,  to  you  some' time  ago  a:nd'had  no,ans\yer,  . 
as  theyiarei  nqt  always  i-egular  at  a  cbunirypestoffite  Icojiclucjled  , 
that  either  ycpu  (^jid  pot  get  the  letter  or 'that  you  had.  laid  .it  aside 
and  overlooked,  it;  father  tells  me  that^he  offered  to  forgive  Tc;m  1 
what  Xom  o\yes  him  if  you  would  do  thd  same;  I  feel  sure  knoyv-  . 
ing  lyou  as  I  hav^idope  for  so  many  yrs  ^nd  always  having foujid, 
you  of  a  kind  anid  hospitable  disposition,  that  you  have  not  chang-. 
ed  since  then  ^nd  that  you  will  do  as  father  proposes;  if  Toiin  jcan. 
start  free  of  debj:  there  is  reasonable  'i!)r6spe'cts' of 'his  being  able, 
to  make  .  the  favm  p^y  expenses;  '  wb  HaVe"been  'having  lovely 
weather  here  lately;  I, suppose  yOu  have  been  hunting,  this  fall} 
Irec'd  a' beautiful  ;^^9  dcpuble  barrel  shdtguh  from  father  pn  my 
2 1  St  birthday;,  I  should  like  to  visit  yoii    but  fear  I.  caaann.t  find 
time."     Engiand  ;se9m|^  to  havie  got  cohiplete  exjntrol   of  Egypt, 
•and  France  and  the  other  powers  are  left  irt  the  told,  which  .they 
-certainly. deserve.     There  has  been  competition:  between  the  Q. 
P.  R,  and   the   G.  T.  R.  between  here  and  Ottawa,  they  each 
advertize  2  fast  daily  express  trains  which  is   a  good  thing  for 
the  public.     Tom  received  the  full  income   from  Uncle  Jerrold.   > 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  '337 

In   a  second  letter   to    uncle    Richard   sent  a  receipt  for  Tom's 
debt  to  me  and  said  the  first  letter  must  have  gone  astray."  The 
ext;avatiori  of  a  channel  through  a  ledge  of  rock  to  divert  a  part 
of  the  current  of  the  Brisbois  river  over   a  precipice  cost  ^^3,000, 
but  it  will  form  a  magnificent  water  power  with  a  fall  of  45  ft. 
steam  is  considered   too  expensive  to  be  used  in  the^manufacture 
of  pulp;  there  is   an  excellent  market  for  extract    which    en- 
ables this  company  to  dispose  of  it  as  fast  as  it  is  made.     The 
country  around  here  is  level  and  uninteresting,  in  most  places  a 
sandy  loam  with  an  occasional  patch  of  clay  or  rich  alluvial  soil; 
the  highest  elevation  does  not  deserve  the  name  of  hill,  from  it 
one  can  gaze  to  the  4  points  of  the  compass  without  seeing  a  sin- 
gle break  in  the  forest  that  extends  around  the  horizon;  the  val- 
ley  through  which  the  Norbert  river  runs  has  a  fine  appearance 
which  greatly  relieves  the  flatness  of  the  surrounding  country, 
on  an  average  is  60  ft.  below  the  surface  of  the  adjoining  coun- 
try; the  rivers  current  is  very  swift  in  dry  seasons,  its  volume  is 
;^3  less  than  in  spring  and  fall;  maskinonge,  pickerel,  white  fish, 
and  trout  are  caught  but  not  in  great  numbers;  duck  shooting  is 
,a  favorite  sport.     Of  late  I  have  had  a  fine  opportunity  to  im- 
prove the  fluency  and  correctness  of  my  knowledge  of  French, 
as  a  student  from  Laval  who  is  studying  medicine  with  a  doctor 
in  the  village  is  boarding  at  the  same  house  I   do,  he  speaks  to 
me  in  English  and  I  to  him  in  French  and  we  have  made  it  a 
rule  to  correct  each  others  mistakes;  I  was  surprised  at  the  su- 
perior class  of  books  he  has,  mostly  from  Paris;  French  literature 
yet  occupies  the  same  position  amongst  the  French  of  this  prov- 
ince as  English  Literature  does  amongst  us.     It   is   truly    won- 
derful how  education  dispels    superstition   and  bigotry  from  a 
naturally   liberal   mind.     The    chief  drawback  to  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  French  Canadians  is  their  blind  unquestioning  be- 
lief in    the    doctrines    and   customs   of  their    forefathers,    im- 
agining  them  to   be   perfection,    which    belief   is    encouraged 
by    the    clergy    as    it    destroys    all    spirit   of   enquiry  which 
a    tyrannical    priesthood    so  much    dread;     the     members    of 
ther  little   community   here   are  far  from  being   wnanimous    in 
their  religious  beliefs,  i  of  them  riducules  everything  of  a  relig- 
ious nature,  the  rest  are  composed  of  4  members  of  the  chruch  of 

43 


33^  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

England,  a  Presbyterian,  2  Congregationalists  and  I  Methodist; 
2  of  the  Protestants  are  married  to  R.  C's ,  and  2  more  are  De- 
ists at  heart,  through  the  influerjce  of  a  book  called  ''the  fair  ha- 
ven" by  a  Mr.  Butler  of  London.  From  a  letter  to  Clifford.  "I 
greatly  regret  that  you  are  unable  to  join  our  party  to  hunt  car- 
ibon,  though  a  rather  fatigumg  and  uncertain  sport,  the  game 
and  excitement  more  than  compensates  for  the  fatigue."  The 
comet  caused  quite  a  sensation  amongst  the  most  ignorant  por- 
tion of  the  French  here,  who  declared  that  it  was  a  certain  sign 
of  war,  ana  would  not  believe  me  when  I  told  them  that  astron- 
omers could  predict  their  appearance;  strange  how  some  people 
will  believe  in  nonsense  and  not  in  science!  Also  said  that 
every  yr.  or  so  there  was  always  some  war  in  progress  on  the 
earth  and  that  comets  appeared  frequently,  but  that  there  was  no 
connection  whatevef  between  .them;  but  even  among  English 
people  there  are  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  are  somewhat  super- 
stitious, some  time  ago  an  English  lady  in  Charlesbourg  aston- 
ished me  by  saying  that  she  believed  that  a  departing  spirit  could 
communicate  with  a  person  it  loved,  and  that  even  living  spiiits 
can  influence  each  others  thoughts,  as  an  instance  she  told  me, 
that  she  had  a  very  dear  friend  in  Germany  that  she  had  totally 
forgotten,  but  suddenly  thought  of  him  a  (cw  days  ago  and  re- 
ceived a  letter  a  few  days  after  saying  he  was  coming  to  Amer- 
ica to  see  her.  Mr.  Yankton,  son  of  a  partner  of  this  firm,  who 
has  travelled  all  over  Europe  is  staying  here  at  present,  although 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  I  do  not  like  his  manners  or  style  of  con- 
versation, he  is  what  I  should  call  an  *  upstart  American,"  and 
speaks  as  if  all  mankind  were  fools  except  the  American  people; 
good  American  society  I  imagine  would  not  tolerate  him  in  its 
midst,  for  the  rules  that  govern  it  are  almost  the  same  as  those 
that  govern  the  society  of  Europe.  A  few  weeks  ago  the  R.  C's. 
had  a  great  revival  here  which  lasted  a  week,  the  preaching  was 
done  by  two  Jesuits  on  different  subjects,  such  as  communion, 
confession,  prayers  to  saints  &c.,  they  devoted  3  afternoons  to 
preach,  the  first  afternoon  to  old  people,  2nd  to  middle  aged  and 
3rd  to  young  people.  Le  Blanc  the  firm's  carpenter  told  Mr. 
S.  that  he  had  worked  a  long  time  for  his  body  and  must 
now  work  a  while  for  his  soul,  so  Mr.  S,  gave  him  a  week's  leave 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  339 

of  absense;  the  church  was  crowded,  farmers  left  their  grain 
that  had  been  cut  all  the  week;  the  Jesuits  tcjld  them,  "take  care 
of  your  soul  and  God  will  take  care  of  your  grain;"  during  the 
wet^k  I  .500  men,  women  and  children  feasted  on  tlie  flesh  of  their 
God;  only  2  farmers  in  the  whole  parish  who  did  not  partake  of 
"Le  bon  dieu;"  and  for  whom  I  have  a  hearty  respect;  they  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  the  priest  by  not  paying  to  him  the 
custoftiary  tithing  from  their  farms,  which  is  i  bushel  out  of  every 
26.  Fiom  a  letter  from  Tom.  "1  have  been  busy  stumping  all 
week,  have  been  all  right  again  as  regards  my  health,  and  have 
gained  4  lbs.  since  this  Summer;  Uncle  Richard  told  you  the 
truth  when  he  told  you  that  I  was  short  of  capital,  I  had  Perre- 
ault  for  5  months  which  came  to  ^130,  then  in  hayii  g  I  had 
another  man  for  5  iveeks,  and  I  had  a  bill  for  wagon  reapairs  for 
$^0;  I  expect  to  be  able  to  commence  lumbering  next  week  and 
earn  something;  I  expect  to  sell  some  potatoes,  1  grew  80  bags; 
the  old  barn  is  full  of  hay  and  half  the  new  one  of  hay  and  grain; 
I  have  done  some  fail  ploughing  in  the  land  you  stumped;  I  am 
very  much  obhged  to  you  for  being  so  good  as  so  cancel  my 
note,  father  unites  with  me  in  love  to  you;  ever  your  affec.  brother 
I.  G.  Howard."  From  a  letter  from  Clifford,  dated  Oct.  25th  '82. 
**You  are  right  about  American  society,  one  can  scarcely  dis- 
tinguish the  American  gentleman  who  mixes  in  the  best  society 
from  an  English  gentleman;  there  may  be  some  slight  differance 
of  accent  or  otherwise  but  it  is  hardly  noticeable;  the  same  rules 
govern  them  both;  that  abominable  class  of  Americans  who  are 
continually  boasting  of  their  money  and  how  they  made  it  &c. 
are  perfectly  insufferable,  and  are  not  tolerated  in  the  best  so- 
ciety of  the  U.  S  ;  the  weather  has  been  lovely  here  of  late;  I  see 
there  is  a  rebellion  in  the  South  of  Egypt,  and  their  leader  claim- 
ing to  be  a  prophet  is  marching  with  a  large  force  on  Cairo,  when 
he  meets  the  British  troops  he  will  order  a  "right  about  face," 
"quick  march."  "26th  Oct.  Dear  Arthur,  I  was  much  pleased 
to  receive  your  talented  and  well  written  let'.er,  and  with  it  also 
your  generous  assistance  enclosed.  I  shall  write  to  Tom  telling 
him  he  is  relieved  of  the  debt;  I  am  happy  to  say  your  Uncle 
Jerrold  is  going  to  give  hin^  your  half  of  the  income.  I  believe 
as  that  lady  does  of  whom  you  mention  in  Clifford's  letter,  and 


34<^^  HISTORY  OF  THE  FREN'CH  IN  AMERICA. 

will  demonstrate  to  you  my  views  on  the  subject  when  next  you 
come  to  see  us;  in  Jiaste  I  remain  your  afifec.  uncle,  R.  I.  Gold- 
smith." Last  week  the  factory  underwent  repairs,  the  masons 
repaired  the  brick  work  around  the  furnace  doors  and  made  2 
'new  furnaces,  the  carpenters  put  in  new  flooring  in  some  places, 
repaired  the  hquor  tanks,  leaches  and  water  drains;  2  boiler  ma- 
kers took  2^  days  to  put  a  20  rivet  patch  on  one  of  the  boilers 
that  leaked;  the  2  engineers,  Mr.  S.  and  myself  worked  at  repair- 
ing pipes  and  valves,  and  examined  all  the  machinery;  I  of  course 
acted  as  an  assistant;  the  inside  of  the  pan  that  boils  the  liquor 
is  over  10  ft.  in  diameter;  in  some  places  the  excrescense  on  the 
bottom  of  the  boilers  was  3  inches  thick;  this  week  I  have  to 
"chink"  the  new  coopers  shop  with  flax  straw,  which  I  first  thresh 
and  then  drive  in  between  the  logs  with  a  wooden  wedge  and 
mallet;  in  the  night  time  I  occasionally  "pitched"  2  leaches,  a 
leach  is  a  tank  8  ft.  deep  md  14  in  diameter  full  of  steaming 
tan  bark;  only  75cts.  is  paid  to  throw  the  tan  out  of  it,  it  takes  a 
man  of  good  physical  endurance  to  throw  2  of  them  out  in  the 
hot,  steamy  atmosphere.  I  buy  my  provisions  for  my  own  use 
now  and  have  them  cooked  which  cost  me  ;$i.40  a  week,  and  40 
cts.  for  cooking  them  and  lodging.  On  October  2nd  '82  a  non- 
religious  system  of  education  was  adopted  throughout  the  whole 
of  France;  under  it  images  of  St.  Mary,  crucifixes  etc.  are  re- 
moved from  the  schools,  and  scholars  are  not  permitted  to  make 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  which  must  be  a  great  hardship  to  ignorant 
and  devout  people  who  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  nation  will  go 
to  destruction  if  religion,  politics  and  education  are  not  under 
the  control  of  the  priesthood.  Surely  there  is  enough  bigotry  and 
and  lack  of  brotherly  love  in  the  world  without  trying  to  increase 
it  by  separating  the  children  of  the  same  nationality  and  sending 
them  to  sectarian  schools  to  be  taught  to  believe  that  all  men  are 
to  be  damned  who  refuse  to  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  one  par- 
ticular sect;  what  in  the  name  of  reason  is  the  use  of  having 
priests,  nuns  and  monks  if  they  cannot  teach  religion  without 
forcing  themselves  into  the  schools  with  the  crafty  desire  to  so 
educate  the  rising  generations  that  they  can  exercise  an  almost 
unlimited  power  in  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs;  France 
is  acting  nobly  in  deciding  that  all  her  children  are  to  be  educated 


HISTORY  Oi'  THE  FRENCH  IS  AMERICA.  34I 

together  and  that  the  pubh'c  money  is  not  to  be  paid  to  teach  her 
subjects  to  hate  each  other  or  to  learn  the  absurd  and  useless 
prayers  of  a  bloody  and  fanatical  religion.  If  I*' ranee  can  carry 
out  this  system  she  will  become  a  happier  and  grander  nation, 
by  teaching  her  children  that  patriotism,  virtue  and  liberty  are 
to  be  preferred  to  bigotry,  superstition  and  credulity.  And  yet 
I  have  met  Protestants  who  were  foolish  enough  to  prefer  having 
a  false  and  absurd  religion  taught  than  no  religion  at  all,  but  I 
feel  confident  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  tide  of 
public  opinion  will  ebb  the  other  way,  and  all  mankind  will 
acknowledge  that  this  earth  contains  such  a  great  number  of 
self-evident  truths  that  man  is  only  wasting  his  ti.iie  to  pay  any 
attention  to  the  imaginary  revealed  truths  of  the  bogus  religions 
of  the  earth.  "Dear  Uncle,  I  was  pleased  to  hear  that  Uncle 
Jerrold  intends  to  continue  the  full  income  to  Tom,  as  it  will 
enable  him  to  continue  farming  without  having  to  undergo  those 
difficulties  that  beset  all  farmers,  that  of  farming  without  capi- 
tal, but  in  reality  the  success  of  the  most  successful  farmers 
is  mainly  due  to  this  cause,  as  from  necessity  they  quickly  learn 
one  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  of  life,  that  of  producing  the 
greatest  effect  from  the  least  amount  of  means.  If  man  gave  this 
subject  more  thought  there  would  be  less  of  that  unfortunate 
class  of  people  who  attribute  their  want  of  success  in  life  to  the 
will  of  Providence  when  in  reality  the  cause  is  mismanagement 
or  idleness.  I  have  seen  some  extreme  cases  here,  two  Canadi- 
ans who  told  me  that  their  Cure  told  them  that  their  Savior  beg- 
ged his  bread  on  earth  as  an  example  to  poor  people  to  be  con- 
tent with  their  lot.  This  of  course  to  a  certain  extent  is  the  duty 
of  all  men,  but  the  great  fault  of  most  Christians  is  that  they  do 
not  conscientiously  draw  the  line  of  distinction  between  what  is 
"God's  will"  and  man's  neglect.  I  have  often  been  amused  when 
a  Canadian  would  say  to  me  in  a  tone  of  self-satisfied,  pious 
resignation,  "If  I  am  poor  and  miserable  in  this  world  I  shall 
have  all  the  more  enjoyment  in  the  next,  and  the  wicked  rich 
man  will  have  to  endure  the  torments  of  purgatory."  I  only 
send  you  $25  this  time  as  my  wages  are  40cts.  a  day  less  than 
when  I  ran  the  engines,  also  my  board  is  $2.50  a  week.  From 
a  letter  to  Clifford:    "As  regards  Egyptian  affairs  I  have  not  had 


342-  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

much  time  to  study  the  question.  It  appears  to  me,  however, 
that  the  use  the  Gladstone  government  made  of  the  island  of 
Cyprus  shows  that  his  criticism  on  its  acquisition  by  the  Beacons* 
field  government  was  unjust;  also  some  of  his  speeches  on  the 
note  of  credit  for  the  Egyptian  war  shows  great  mconsistency  to 
his  opinions  when  a  leadc;r  of  the  opposition."  Read  in  the 
paper  that  Florence  and  Maud  Meredith  attended  a  fox  hunt  in 
Montreal.  In  another  letter  Clifford  says,  "A  slate  quarry  h  as 
been  discovered  near  yo'jr  place.  I  have  bought  a  property  at 
the  corner  of  Oaig  street,  from  father  for  $10000;  I  have  paid 
$3,500  cash,  the  balance  1  pay  in  9  yean  r.l  c  pc:  (t  The  prop- 
erty brings  'n\  $1,000  a  year;  he  sold  it  to  me  for  what  he  gave 
for  it."  We  have  had  a  few  slight  falls  of  snow  lately  which  has 
made  pretty  fair  sleighing  on  roads  that  are  free  from  stones  and 
ruts;  1  have  helped  LeBlanc  to  make  a  new  endless  chain  to 
draw  the  tan  from  the  leaches  over  the  furnace.  Had  service  on 
Dec.  1st;  1 1  attended;  I  was  struck  with  what  intense  interest 
old  age  listens  to  the  preacher's  voice.  I  discussed  A'ith  the 
clergyman  the  absurdity  of  singing  such  prayers  as  "Lord  have 
mercy  on  us  and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law."  That  even 
from  a  Christian  point  of  view  singing  was  more  adapted  for 
praise  than  for  prayer.  Mr.  Yankton  can  play  chess  with  both 
Mrs,  S.  and  myself  at  the  same  time  on  two  diftjrent  boards  and 
win  every  game;  he  is  also  a  crack  shot  and  can  shoot  a  bottle 
every  time  it  is  thrown  up  into  the  air.  The  factory  is  stopped 
for  want  of  bark;  I  am  in  charge  of  the  factory  and  keep  small 
fires  burning  and  open  the  valves  occasionally  to  let  steam  into 
the  pipes  throughout  the  factory  to  prevent  them  from  freezing. 
It  snowed  two  inches  last  night  and  the  weather  is  quite  mild. 
Extracts  from  a  book  written  by  a  French  bishop;  entitled, 
Criticisms  on  Protestantism.  "Protestantism  is  an  easy  religion 
for  life  but  not  for  death."  I  Ho  not  believe  that  the  avenge 
Protestant  dies  a  more  wretched  death  than  a  Catholic,  "When 
a  Catholic  turns  Protestant  it  is  apostacy,  but  when  a  Protescant 
turns  Catholic  it  is  a  conversion.  Protestantism  is  not  a  religion 
but  a  combination  of  sects;  it  is  not  an  institution  but  a  revolt. 
Protestantism  and  Protestants  are  not  the  same  God,  and  the 
church  loves  Protestants  like    other  men,  but  hates  Protestantism 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA,  343 

as  it  is  a  revolt.  The  following  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  believe 
to  be  a  good  Protestant:  Luther  created  our  religion  and  estab- 
lished it  in  the  world.  A  Protestant  is  one  who  has  been 
baptised  or  not  baptised,  it  is  all  the  same,  he  believes  what  he 
likes  and  does  what  he  likes  The  mark  of  a  Protestant  is  a 
horror  for  a  cross,  a  hatred  for  Saint  Mary,  the  Pope  and  the 
saints,  as  well  as  a  forgetfulness  for  the  poor  samts  in  purgatory; 
this  is  the  true  doctrine  of  Protestantism.  The  salvation  of  a 
Protestant  in  errror  is  possible,  but  that  of  one  in  heresy  is  im- 
possible, for  he  revolts  against  God  and  the  church.  No 
Catholic  turns  Protestant  from  christian  motives  or  does  so  from 
conscience,  Catholicism  receives  through  conversion  some  of 
the  most  enlightened  Protestants,  the  most  leirned  and  disting- 
ushed  for  their  morality;  whereas  Prot  stantism  only  receives 
the  weeds  thrown  from  the  garden  of  the  Catholic  church.  The 
majority  of  those  that  leave  the  Catholic  church  do  so  for  wick- 
ed and  unlawful  purpose-^.  During  the  last  25  years  the  flower  of 
the  English  nobility  have  abjured  their  heresy."  He  says  "the 
poor  Protestants  in  France  have  1  jft  the  church  for  worldy  gain." 
How  about  Cardinal  Manning  in  England,  he  truly  has  had  a 
rise  in  the  world  since  he  became  a  Catholic.  **A  Protestant  can 
never  declare  what  his  belief  is.  Oar  church  nses  Latin  be- 
cause it  is  apostolique  and  nevcT  changing  in  her  doctrines.  The 
lan<xuage  is  dead  and  does  not  change  and  is  marvelously  adapt- 
ed for  a  church  that  never  changes.  If  our  church  had  adopted 
Fre-^ch  instead  of  Latin  it  would  have  had  to  change  the  sacra- 
ment of  baptism  over  250  times.  Protestants  have,  grand  houses 
but  thfir  churches  are  nude  and  bare;  everything  must  be  ex- 
tremely simple  in  their  religion;  would  it  not  be  more  simple 
still  if  there  was  neither  religion  or  temple.  It  is  no  use  for 
Protestants  to  say  God  does  not  require  pomp  and  grandeur,  did 
not  God  demand  it  and  accept  it  in  the  temple  of  Solomon  and 
did  he  not  accept  incense  and  myrrh  at  Bethleham.  A  perfect 
sign  that  the  Catholic  church  is  the  true  one  is  that  is  always 
attacked  by  Turks,  Pagans,  Protestants  aud  Revolutionists,  but 
this  we  expect  for  Christ  said,  'You  will  be  hated  of  all  men.*  It 
is  also  impossible  that  God  would  choose  such  vile  characters 
as  Luther,  Calvin  or  Henry   the   VIII  to  reform    His   church. 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Protestants  have  no  respect  for   God,   they   preach    in  theatres, 
hotels  and  other  unconsecrated  buildings.     The  Protestant  sects 
all  acknowledge  that  all   that   is   necessary  for  salvation  is  found 
in  the  Catholic  church,  therefore  they  act  in  direct  contradiction 
to  their  principles  in  trying  to  tear  away  souls  from  the  Catholic 
church.     When  the  Catholic  church  converts  a  Protestant  from 
Protestantism  it  saves  a  soul  that  the  church  believes  would  be 
otherwise  lost,  and  makes  the  convert  believe  more  than  he  used 
to,  whereas  the  Protestants  instead  of  adding  to  tbeir  convert's 
faith,  make  it  less.      The  Apostolique  Roman  church,  founded 
by  Christ   and    governed  in    his   name   by   St.  Peter   and    the 
Soverign  Pontiffs  and  their  successors,  have  preserved  the  doc- 
trines   of  the    church   unchanged  for  the  last  1 8oo  years.     The 
Popes  and  councils  of  the  church  have  labored  without  ceasing  to 
improve  the  discipline  of  the  church  and  change  it  when  needed, 
partictularly  the  council  of  Trent,  which  effectually  reformed  the 
discipline  of  the  church.    Luther  and   his   followers  pretended  to 
reform  the  tenants  of  the  faith,  but  instead  of  a  reform  they  made 
a   revolution   which   deformed    everything    and  carried  all  faith 
away.      Catholics  are   often  divided  on  minor  points,  but  never 
on  the  doctrine  of  their  church,  for  all  good  Catholics  bring  any 
doubtful  doctrine  to  the  tribunal  of  the  Pope  and  bishops,  a  tri- 
bunal always  living  and  always  assisted  by  God,  and  in  particu- 
lar on  the  interpretation  of  the  scriptures.      The    Protestants  on 
the  contrary  without   this   rule   of  faith,  are  as  St.   Paul  says, 
'Carried  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,'  and   notwithstanding 
the  Bible  whigh  is  in  their  hands  believe  to  day   what  they  re- 
ject   to-morrow;  whereas   the    Catholic's    rule  of  faith  is  for  all 
Christians  and  is  an  institution  divine  that  cannot  be  rejected  on 
the  pain    of  losing  one's  soul.     The  Bible  is  truly  the  word  of 
God,  but  cannot  become  our  rule  of  faith  as  the  Protestants  use 
it.     for  Jesus  Christ  did  not  say  to   his  apostles,  go  colport  the 
Bible,  but  'go  and  teach  all  nations;'   ?lso,  'to  those  that  listen  to 
you  I  will  listen.'     The  Bible  cannot  be  a  rule  of  faith  because 
its  religious  teachings  are  not  clear  and  complete;  the  whole  book 
is  only  an  account  presented  for  the  edification  of  the   faithful 
the  Bible  can  never  be  a  rule  of  faith  for  it  contains  a  multitude 
of  difficult  passages  that  from  their  Divine  depth  cannot  be  in- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  345 

tcrprcted  by  even  the  most  profound  of  intellects;  the  word  of 
God  cannot  be  the  rule  of  faith  for  if  it  was,  ignorant  people  that 
cannot  read  v/ould  be  without  the  means  of  salvation;  the  Prot- 
estants do  not  know  for   a  certainty  that  the  Bible  is    inspired, 
whereas  the  Catholics  know  it  is  for  the  church  tells  them  so,     In 
speaking  to  Le  Blanc  about  the  book  I  said,  if  by  credulity  your 
church  means  faith,  and  by  servilitv  obediance,  then  let  them  be 
swept  away  the  sooner  the  better.     In  a  letter  to  Clifford.     Prot- 
estantism is  the  moral  pressure  that  is  and  is  gradually  straight- 
ening out  the  crooked  barbarism  of  all  the  supernatural  religions 
of  the  earth.     Received  leave  of  absense  from  Mr.  S.   for  a  few 
days  at  New  Years  and  started  for  Montreal;  met    Rev.  J.  C.  P. 
our  priest  of  St.  Liboire  in  conversation  he  said  religious  educa- 
tion was  necessary  in  the  schools  for  the  welfare  of  a  nation,  al- 
,  so  that  there  was  more  crime  in   Protestant  Upper  Canada  than 
in  the  Catholic  province  of  Quebec,  which  statement  I  have  since 
discovered  to  be  incorrect.     On  arriving  at  A^ton  found  it  some- 
what changed,  and  many  of  my   old  acquaintances  gone  away, 
hired  a  horse  and  sleigh  for  $1]  father,  Tom  and  Philip  G.  were 
at  Klmbrooke  and  gave  me  a  warm  welcome;  father  appears  as 
young  as  ever;  visited  Uncle  Herbert's  family,  and  I  spent  a  few 
hours  pleasantly  there;  Tom  showed  me  a  letter  in  which  Uncle 
Jerrold  sent  his  love  to  me;  left  next  morning  for  Montreal  at 
3.30  a,  m.  and  arrived  at  6;  drove  to  the  Richlieu   hotel,  it  is  on 
the  European  plan  and  charges  from  $1  to  ;^2   a  day  for  rooms; 
it  is  a  very  fine  building  with  handsome  tesselated  floors,  a  bar- 
bers shop,  telegraph  and  telephone  office,  billiard  room,  a  lunch 
bar,  superbly   furnished  parlors  and  a  beautiful  garden  on  the 
roof,  full  of  the  choicest  flowers  roofed  in  with  glass,  from  which 
a  fine  view  can  be  had  of  the  city;  its  bill  of  fare  for  dinner  con- 
sisted of  several  sorts  of  soup,  meat,  vegetables,  fowl,  fish,  pastry 
and  dessert,  which  consisted  of  apples,  oranges,  pears,  grapes  nuts 
etc.;  as  I  viewed  the  city  from  the  garden  of  the  hotel  and  con- 
•   sidered  that  it  is  600  miles  from  the  sea  and  reached  by  a  channel 
partially  artificial,  and  has  a  harbor  that  is  ice  locked  for  almost 
half  the  yeir   and  that   notwithstanding  these    disadvantages  is 
one  of  the  greatest  shipping  ports  on  the  continent,  with  7  lines 

of  transatlantic  steamers;  and  maintains  competition  with  cities 

44 


3^6  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

of  larger  population  and  fjrcater  natural  advantaj^es;  I  was  filled 
with  admiration  for  its  English,  citiz-jns  who  dccipencd  the  St. 
I.awerance  river,  built  handsome  stone  quays,  and  own  all  the 
great  manufacturing  industries  of  the  city.  Father  gave  me  a 
letter  when  I  left  as  he  did  not  have  time  to  tell  me  all  his  com- 
plaints. "Dear  Arthur,  I  intended  to  write  to  you  a  long  time 
ago,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  will  not  be  able  to  pay  you  what 
1  owe  you  this  yr.;  I  have  had  to  sell  my  pigs  to  help  to  pay  my 
debts  and  only  killed  one  Spring  pig  for  ourselves;  we  might 
have  had  4  or  5  had  Tom  done  as  I  wished;  I  raised  a  nice  little 
piece  of  corn  by  my  own  industry  as  well  as  clearing  up  the 
ground  for  it,  and  some  blue  buckwheat  about  an  acre  in  all,  but 
the  buckwheat  was  too  late  as  he  would  not  give  me  my  half  and 
I  had  to  superintend  his  hired  boy,  who  attends  to  the  animals;  I 
wanted  to  have  some  pasture  for  my  pigs  in  the  Summer,  but  he 
made  me  shut  them  up  and  I  had  to  get  feed  at  the  store  all  Sum- 
mer and  sold  the  pigs  at  .v.  loss  in  the  fall;  he  sent  my  sheep  to 
pasture  at  Goldsmith's,  through  which  I  lost  one  of  the  lambs; 
lie  had  a  fine  crop  of  oats  and  potatoes  off  my  place  though  he 
pretends  not,  and  yet  he  wants  me  to  sell  my  hoise  to  pay  the 
balance  of  my  debts,  which  was  incurred  through  his  neglect;  1 
am  not  well  of  late,  yet  he  expects  me  to  see  that  the  hired  boy 
does  his  work  properly;  I  have  told  him  that  if  things  do  not 
change  I  shall  take  a  situation  m  Montreal;  I  refused  to  sell  the 
cut  of  the  ties  on  my  lot  and  gave  them  to  him;  he  wanted 
me  to  raise  money  on  my  place  of  which  there  was  no  ne- 
cessity as  he  gets  regularly  from  England  $300  a  yr.;  and  now 
that  I  know  that  you  and  your  Uncle  Richard  have  cancelled 
his  debts  to  you,  I  shall  certainly  in  my  will  leave  the  Home 
farm  to  you,  for  I  consider  you  have  been  treated  with  the  great- 
est injustice,  to  get  no  compensation  for  your  5  yrs,  haid  work; 
I  was  very  mnch  pleasrd  with  your  letter  and  advice  to  Tom  he 
is  getting  so  vulgar  of  late,  and  I  told  him  it  was  no  wonder  you 
did  not  agree  together  on  the  differance  in  your  accounts;  I  told 
him  that  he  associated  more  with  the  French  that;  you  did." 
Bought  a  fine  dress  suit  for  ;^  16.50,  the  merchant  asked  $20  but 
on  my  saying  it  was  too  high  and  leaving  th.e  store  he  called  me 
back  and  commenced  reducing  his  price,  until  he  came  down  to 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  34/ 

the  price  I  paid  for  it;  paid  $$  for  a  very  fine  pair  of  French 
calf  slices.  'I  hj  troupe  of  aciresses  and  actors  ot  Kmiiia  Abbot 
are  stopping  at  tills  hotel;  I  tirove  from  the  hotel  to  tlie  theatre 
in  an  omnibus  with  them  and  licard  some  of  the  wildest  and 
most  reckless  conversation  imai^inable;  in  ju>^tice  however  I 
must  say  that  many  of  them  were  di{j;nificd  and  lady  like;  Kmma 
Abbot  has  a  wonderfully  sweet  voice  but  not  quite  as  powerful 
as  that  of  Patti,  it  rose  however  hi^h  enouj^h  to  fill  the  theatre 
with  melody  and  then  died  away,  until  I  almost  believed  that  no 
human  voice  could  sound  so  sweet  and  so  low;  I  tried  to  find  Mr. 
Meredith's  hou^e  but  could  not  find  ihe  name  in  the  directory; 
went  to  Uncle  Richard's  where  I  reed,  a  cordial  reception,  and 
remained  for  dinner;  they  told  me  they  admired  my  independent 
spirit  and  hoped  1  would  succeed;  I  informed  the  n  that  the  firm 
of  H  and  Co.  was  in  a  shaky  condition  and  that  I  intended  to  go 
to  Manitoba  shortly;  uncle  said  he  would  give  me  letters  of  in- 
troduction to  friends  of  his  in  VVinnipcrr.  On  my  way  back  to 
St.  Liboire  I  saw  doubtful  characters  in  the  car,  but  what  sur- 
prised me  most  was  that  the  railway  conductor  (who  ought  to  be 
a  gentleman)  sat  down  beside  them  and  conversed  in  the  loudest 
and  most  disgusting  manner  possible,  without  any  regard  for  the 
presence  of  the  other  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  the  car;  had  I  had 
any  lady  friends  with  me  at  the  time  I  should  have  threatened 
to  report  his  conduct  to  the  superintendant  of  the  railway  at  the 
next  station;  paid  75cts.  to  be  driven  8  miles  from  Arlington  to 
the  factory  village;  Mr.  Milton  has  received  a  leave  of  absense 
from  Mr.  S.  to  hunt  Caribou;  I  measure  bark  in  his  place;  when 
the  bark  is  at  all  mildewed  and  curled  up  like  stove  pipes,  I  de- 
duct ^  the  bulk  and  often  jS^  to  make  allowance  for  the  holes  ia 
the  load;  the  Frenchmen  only  swear  at  me  and  call  me  vile  names 
for  doing  this,  but  some  hot  blooded  Irishmen  threatened  to 
"thrash  me  within  an  inch  of  my  life,"  in  fact  one  fellow  tried  to 
do  it  and  succeeded  in  giving  me  a  black  eye  and  bruised  face; 
I  had  the  satisfaction  however  of  drawing  his  claret  by  the  time 
Mr.  S.  arrived  and  separated  us;  Mr.  S.  said  he  did  not  want  to 
buy  mildewed  and  curled  up  bark  and  that  if  he  was  not  satis- 
fijd  with  the  measure  he  would  go  and  sell  it,  if  he  could  to  the 
Yankee  buyers.     The  parish  priest  told  me  that  "Protestants  were 


348  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

united  on  one  subject  alone,  that  of  hatred  ofthe  Catholic  church;'* 
Mr.  S,  one  evening  showed  his  disrespect  for  Scriptural  truths  by 
saying  of  a  captain  that  sat   on    a  safety  valve  of  a    Mississippi 
steam  boat  while  racing  with    another   steamboat,  that   he  went 
up  like  Elijah,  for  which   Mrs.   S.  gravely   reproved  him;  Miss 
Kate  Watts  is  trying  to   form  a  little  literary  society  among  the 
II  English  people  here;  had  a  warm  discussion  with  Le  Blanc; 
he  was  terribly  indignant  because  I  said  I  saw  nothing  wrong  or 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  in   Luther's  marriage   to  a 
nun.     From  a  letter  to  Clifford.     "I  am  at  present  superintending 
the  piling  ofthe  bark  in  huge  stacks  as  the  farmers  draw  it  in, 
to  see  that  the  couple    of  hundred    teamsters   pile  their    bark 
properly,  and     that   the    30     bark     pilers     do    not    "loaf"    too 
much;  if  you   intend    to    hunt  Caribon    with    me  come     here 
as  soon  as  possible    as    the    season    closes    in    a  few  weeks." 
The     weather    here    is     very   severe;     one    night    I     had     to 
sleep    in  my  overcoat  although  I  had  two  blankets,  a  quilt  and 
a  buffalo  robe;  my  landlady  is  so  stingy  that  she  does  not  keep 
a  fire  burning  at  night.       I  heard  the  poor  little  children  crying 
from  the  cold  in  the  other  room.    On  getting  up  in  the  morning 
at  4  o'clock  I  found  the  thermometer  in  my  room  25  degrees  be- 
low zero;  it  was  only  35  outside.      French    Canadian   girls  and 
women  in  the  country  districts  are  almost  utterly  devoid  of  that 
beautiful  delicacy  that  is    to  be   so  much  admired   in    English 
ladies;  I  hear  language  every  day  since  I  have  associated  with 
them  that  clearly  confirms  my   belief  that  the   majority   of  the 
French  women  of  this  Province  are  vastly  inferior   to    English 
women  in  delicacy.*    The  bishop  of  this  diocese  in  a  sermon   in 
the  parish  church  said,  "The  Catholic  who  acts  upon,  speaks   or 
writes  his  own  opinion    regarding  anything  that  effects  the  doc- 
trines ofthe  church  ceases  by  that  fact  to  be  a   good  Catholic." 
From  a  letter  to  Tom:     "There  is   a  great   excitement   here   at 
present;  this  is  such  a  Conservative  stronghold   that   two   Con- 
servative members  ran  opposition  to  each  other  instead  of  a  Lib- 
eral and  Conservative,  but  the  chances   of  the  success    of    one 
of  them  is   small,   for   20   years  ago  he  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  a  member  of  the  Free  Mason  lodge,  and  most  of  the  French 
are  so  superstitous  and  bigoted  that  they  entertain   the   opinion 


HI3T0RV  OF  THE  FREXCIi  IN  AMERICA.  349 

that  whoever  becomes  a  Free  Mason  sells  himself  to  the  devil. 
In  fact,  his  opponent  said  publically,  "A  man  that  enters  a 
wicked  society  in  opposition  to  his  church  is  not  worthy  to 
represent  in  parliament  the  faithful  and  devout  Catholics  of  this 
parish."  This  remark  was  received  by  cheers  from  some  and  in 
silence  by  others.  The  other  candidate  replied,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  that  he  acknowledged  his  sin  of  having  once  been  a  Free 
Mason,  but  that  he  had  sincerly  repented  of  it  and  was  now  a 
good  and  dutiful  son  of  the  church,  in  proof  of  which  he  read 
a  certificate  from  his  parish  priest  of  his  having  performed  his 
religious  duties  faithfully  for  the  past  lo  years.  Approving 
cheers  from  his  partisans  greeted  this  remark.  Although  the 
priest's  candidate  is  very  unpopular  with  many  of  the  people  for 
having  voted  for  the  sale  of  a  Canadian  government  railway  to  a 

•  syndicate.  I  am  confident  he  will  be  elected  as  the  priests  are 
quietly  working  in  his  favor;  they  cannot,  however,  openly  curse 
the  rouge  party  as  they  used  to  do,  since  the  Pope  sent  them  an 
order  forbidding  them  to  enterfere  in  elections."  Feb.  3.  Went 
to  duties  at  St.  Monique;  our  sleigh  nearly  went  through  the 
ice  several  times  in  driving  across  the  Norbert  river.  The  people 
were  in  a  great  state  of  festivity  and  had  any  quantity  of  gin, 
whiskey  and  wine,  "pour  le  Jour  gras"  for  "the  days  of  feasting" 
before  Lent;  conversed  with  an  intelligent  young  French  girl 
who  is  a  Protestant  at  heart  on  account  of  the  beneficial  influence 
she  derived  from  associating  with  Protestant  girls  for  8  years  in 

*  the  United  States;  she  has  been  educated  at  a  convent  and  said 
that  no  Protestant  who  valued  the  truths  of  his  religion  should 
send  his  child  to  be  educated  at  a  convent,  for  that  she  her 
self  had  seen  the  mother  superior  encourage  and  persuade 
Protestant  girls  to  attend  the  Catholic  services,  and  even  teach 
little  Protestant  girls  Catholic  prayers,  although  she  had  solemn- 
ly promised  the  child's  parents  not  to  interfere  with  the  child's 
religion;  conversed  about  the  priests'  political  candidate  for  this 
parish  who  voted  in  favor  of  selling  a  government  railway  to 
Senecal,  a  second  Boss  Tweed,  who  pocketed  i  ^  million  dollars 
at  the  expense  of  the  Province  through  the  transaction;  card 
playing,  singing  songs  and  relating  smutty  stories  was  the  order 
of  the  evening;  some  of  these   stories   would   have   made   even 


350  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA. 

Cleopatra  or  Lady  Hamilton  blush  to  the  roots  of  their  hair, 
yet  the  French  maidens  of  even  sweet  sixteen,  seemed  to  thor- 
oughly enjoy  them,  with  all  their  superstition  and  ignorance.  I 
take  great  pleasure  in  spending  an  evening  occasionally  in  study- 
ing the  bright  and  dark  characteristics  of  this  gay  and  hospitable 
people.  Have  spent  many  pleasant  evenings  at  Mr.  Sherman's, 
where  Mr.  and  Miss  Morrison  are  on  a  visit;  in  a  discussion 
with  our  "occasional  minister,"  he  told  me  that  confession  was  of 
great  benefit  to  the  Province  of  Quebec  and  that  it  would  not  be 
inhabitable  without  the  sin  restraining  power  of  the  contessional. 
1  replied  that  it  was  a  barbarous  and  degrading  system,  and  that 
modern  freedom  and  liberty  were  more  suitable  for  civilized  men 
than  a  debased  and  servile  Christianity;  also  in  a  further  discus- 
sion of  the  rapidly  increasing  power  of  the  church  of  Rome  on 
this  continent;  I  remarked  that  if  the  rate  of  decrease  in  native 
born  American  children  continues,  by  the  year  19S2  there  will 
not  be  a  single  infant  remaining  among  the  families  of  the  better 
class  of  Americans;  and  that  on  this  by  no  means  slender  basis, 
the  church  of  Rome  rests  its  arrogant  boast  of  possessing  the 
entire  control  of  this  continent  in  another  century;  and  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  every  enemy  of  priest-craft  and  spiritual  tyranny 
to  prevent  this  grand  Continent  of  ever  becoming  the  home  of  a 
race  of '^ervile  and  credulous  slaves.  From  a  letter  to  Clifford: 
"I  regret  that  you  are  unable  to  come  and  see  me  as  you  would 
have  a  good  time  hunting  caribon,  snowshoeing  and  skating;  a 
caribon  has  been  killed  here  by  a  farmer;  it  had  become 
entangled  in  a  number  of  upturned  trees;  since  I  last  wrote  to 
j'ou  a  lady  from  New  York  has  been  on  a  visit  at  Mr.  Sherman's; 
I  was  greatly  pleased  with  her  manners,  they  were  such  a  con- 
trast to  those  of  Mr.  Yankton,  who  seemed  to  be  suffering  from 
anglophobia.  Last  Sunday,  I  with  a  party  of  young  men  went 
a  25  n^ile  race  to  St.  Norbert  on  snowshoes;  1  arrived  the  first, 
in  5)^  hours  time;  I  did  not  see  any  grand  primeval  "forest; 
most  of  the  way  I  followed  a  range  that  is  named  "Le  petit  Saint 
Esprit;"  this  road  is  called  "the  little  holy  ghost,"  as  there  is 
another  road  a  few  miles  west  of  it  that  is  called  "the  big  holy 
ghost;"  for  such  a  devout  and  reverent  people  I  think  that  such 
names  are  improper.     The  country  looks  very  uninteresting,  it  is 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  351 

very  flat  .'ind  covered  with  a  secDaJ  growth  of  willowi,  balsams, 
spruces  and  pines  here  and  there  between  the  clearances;  the 
farm  houses  are  all  of  the  same  sizj  atid  appearance  and  give  an 
uiifivorable  opinion  of  the  taste  of  their  owners.  On  approach- 
ing Morbert,  however,  the  appearance  of  the  farm  houses  and 
country  improves;  the  country  becomes  quite  undulating  and 
the  firm  houses  larger  and  less  plain;  only  saw  two  brick  houses 
in  the  wliole  distance;  in  one  house, I  entered  there  was  a  grand- 
father only  39  years  of  age;  most  of  the  houses  were  filled  with 
children.  St.  Norbert  College  is  300  ft.  long  and  5  stories  high 
and  had  300  students  last  year.  40  of  whom  were  Irish- Ameri- 
cans. The  kitchen  was  one  of  the  dingiest  I  ever  entered;  the 
only  ornaments  I  siw  on  the  bare  walls  were  caricatures  of  God, 
St.  Mary. and  Saints,  and  absurd  pictures  of  the  heart  of  God 
with  the  blood  trickling  from  it;  I  did  not  have  time  to  enter  the 
chapel  libr.iry  or  museu  n.  The  tin  covered  roof  of  this  college 
can  be  seen  from  lake  St.  Peter  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Norbert 
has  only  7  stores,  i  of  them  wholesale  and  retail,  and  5  saw 
mills  which,  as  is  usually  the  case,  are  run  by  English  capital; 
its  market  is  open  3  times  a  week;  it  has  a  ^^w  shabby  hotels,  a 
church  and  a  population  of  3,000;  a  very  small  newspaper  is 
published  in  the  old  college  building  which  is  lOO  years  old;  the 
present  college  has  been  established  60  years,  and  a  student  tells 
me  that  they  often  have  to  eat  rancid  butter  and  badly  cured 
meat.  The  crust  on  the  snow  was  so  hard  as  to  almost  allow 
one  to  walk  on  it. without  sno.v  shoes.  The  election  came  off, 
and,  although  Mr.  Hilbert's  election  was  annulled  by  the  courts 
last  year  on  account  of  corruption,  the  devout  people  have  re- 
elected him  in  preference  to  his  opponent,  ''who  once  committed 
the  horrid  crime  of  being  a  Free  \iason."  Tiie  poor  ex-Free 
Mason  went  so  far  as  to  get  adocununt  from  his  parish  priest 
containing  the  following  clause:  "Since  Mr.  Danseran  has 
solemnfy  renounced  Free  Masonry  and  declared  in  public  that 
no  good  Catholic  can  belong  to  it  or  any  other  secret  society; 
and  has  puLlicly  fulfilled  his  religious  duties  for  the  past  10  yrs. 
an9  conducted  himself  like  a  man  sincerely  attached  to  the 
Catholic  fiith,  he  ought  to  be  considered  as  having  recovered 
his     good     reputation    among     the    faithful."      Yet  notvvith- 


352  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA, 

standing  this,  Mr.  Baron,  Vicar  General  of  the  diocese  said  in  a 
sermon  on  the  Sunday  preceding  the  day  of  the  election.     "The 
fear  I  have  of  the  influence  of  free  mason  lodges  on  any  man  that 
has  even  once  belonged  to  them  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  me  to 
refuse  my  vote  to  any  such  man."  I  was  perfectly  disgusted  dur- 
ing the  election  campaign  at  the  manner  in  which  religion  and 
politics  were  mixed  and  at  the  outrageous  way  they  slandered 
that  honorable  and  useful  society  of  free  masons.    Much  to  lum- 
berers regret  Mr.  Venner's  prediction  of  a  thaw  in  February  has 
been  verified.     I  went  up  St,  Norbert  river  some   time  ago  and 
received  1500  saw  logs  for  Bentley  &  Co;  the  country  consists  of 
a  somewhat  cleared  oleateau  cut  up  at  distances  of  2  miles  with 
precipitous  ravines  over  100  ft.  deep  and  heavily  wooded  which 
looked  very  picturesque-  in  one  place  I  could  see  the  blue  outline 
of  hills  in  the  distance  beyond  St,  Andre;  saw  a  few  comfortable 
farm  houses  but  the  majority  were  miserable  log  shanties;  on  ar- 
riving at  the  shanty  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  forest  I  dined  with 
the  shanty  men  on  pea  soup,  pork,  potatoes,  bread  and  green  tea, 
the  usual  diet  of  lumbermen;  6  men  came  with  us  and  shoveled 
off  the  snow  from  the  rollways  while  the  contractor  and  myself 
measured  the  logs  at  the  smallest  place  and  strictly  adhered  to 
the  letter  of  the  contract,  a  copy  of  which  I  had  with  me,  stating 
that  no  logs  would  be  accepted  from  the  head  of  the  trees  which 
would  be  knotty  for  the  purpose  the  company  wanted  the  lumber. 
From  a  letter  from  Clifford,  March  '83:    "Dear  Arthur,   I   have 
just  been  shoveling  snow  to  get  my  muscle  up,  so  you  must  ex- 
cuse my  hand  if  it  is  shaky;  I  was  much  pleased  to  get  your  let- 
ter with  the  interesting  description  of  your  snow  shoe  tramp;  I 
agree  with  you  in  deploring  the  dense  ignorance  of  the  French 
Canadians;  the  only  remedy  I  see  is  government  or  public  schools 
over  which  the  clergy  could  have  no  control,  and  I  believe  that 
this  can  only  be  brought  about  by  the  people  themselves  when 
they  get  their  eyes  opened  by  going  to  other  countries,  Reading, 
etc;  they  are.  about  200  yrs  behind  the  French  in  old  France  and 
the  English  people  of  Canada.     Let    us    hope    that   there  are 
brighter  days  in  store  for  them.     Bright  made  speeches  all  over 
England  saying  that  force  is  no  remedy  for  Ireland,  well,  they 
tried  this  plan  and  what  was  the  result,  in  a  few  months  the  coun- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  IN  AMERICA.  353 

try  was  in  a  fearful  condition,  worse  than  it  .has  been  since    48, 
outrages  in  all  directions;  then  force  ;vas  tried  as  a  remedy  and 
in  a  short  time  the  country  was  comparatively  quiet.     Law  and 
order  must  be  preserved  in  any  country  if  it  wishes  to  enjoy  pros- 
perity. When  a  country  is  ii|^  revolution  the  tu%ulent  spirits  get 
the  upper  hand  and  they  ai^^  not  the   ones  that  conduce  to  a 
country's  prosperity.     I  myself  agree  with  father  that  the  law  of 
entail  ought  to  be  abolished  and  that  there  ought  to  be  some  law 
to  discourage  a  man  from  owning  more  than    lOoo  acres,  when 
the  owner  died  the  property  of  course  to  be  left  to  his  children 
and  soon  become  divided  up.  It  is  of  course  a  very  difficult  prob- 
lem aiid  all  kinds  of  suggestions  have  been  made  on  the  subject; 
one  thing  certain  is  that  they  cannot  take  the  land  from  the  pres- 
ent owners  without  paying  them  for  it."     From  a  letter  to  uncle 
Richard:  "The  mijlions  of  £  that  England  spends  annually  on 
strong  drink  woulqi  be  better  employed  in  building  pyramids  for 
the  money  spent  o^  them  altho  a  waste,  would  not  fill  the  king- 
dom with    murderers,  wife   beaters,  paupers   and   idiots,  as  the 
money  spent  on  spirituous  liquor  does.     How  very  foolish  for  a 
so  called  civilized  arid  christian  nation  to  have  thousands  of  pau- 
pers in  its  midst  an^'have  to  buy  grain  from  foreign  countries  and 
yet  at  the  same  tim^  legalize  by  legislation  the  pernicious  waste 
of  grain  by   manufacturing   beverages,   that   the  most   eminent 
chemists  and  physicians  have  proved  to  be  injurious  to  the   hu- 
man race;  England  h?.s,  tps-have  wheat  shipped  to  her  thousands 
of  miles  across  land  and  water  ail   because  its   "highly  civilized 
people"  drink  an  unhealthy  beverage  of  their  own  brewing  in  pre- 
ference to  water,  the  purest,  cheapest  and  healthiest  beverage  in 
existence.     Unforseen  business  difficulties  made  it  no  longer  ad- 
visable that  I  should  remain  in  the  service  of  Bentley  &  Co.  so  I 
bid  farewell  to  my  kind   friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sherman   and  de- 
parted for  the  great  Northwest,which  offers  greater  advantages  to 
young  men  than  the  Province  of  Quebec.     The  reader  and  I  must 
now  part  for  we  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  "Six  Year's  Life  and 
Travel  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,"  but  I   shall   ag^in   have  the 
pleasure  to  appear  to  the  public  in  a  few  months  to  solicit  their 
patronage  for  another  work  entitled  "Four  Years  in  the  Great 
Northwest."' 

46 


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360 


STATliJnCS. 


STATISTICS  OF  MANUFACTURING  INDUSTRIKS 

OF  OUEBEC. 


\\\>ulcii  ( iooil«,  yiU 
(yuttoii  Faoton«?8 

1861.     s 

3,827,008. 

.   .    1880.      . 

• • 

7 

1882. 

2  J 

Out  Mills 

12 

4.>0 

810 

SS 

■     47 

.") 

214 

«;o 

Hi 

.  7 

2.-I 

()0 

tories       14 

302 

t'loiii"  and  (hist  Millti 

• 

Stiv  Mills 

(Warding ami  Fulling  Mills 
Woolen  Factories 

I  )istillerit's 

19 

, 

Tuunciies 

Fouutlries 

Bi'c\\  flies 

Kdgo  Tool  Faetoiies 

('a l)inet  Factories                  * 

•   •                    •           .  ( . 

( 'aniage  Factories 
Agricultural  Implement  Fac 
Miscellaneous  Factories 

.  '  :■ 

liutton  Factories 

47 

(/heese  Factories 

'.  '        278- 

Tobacco  Factoiics 

■    7;')!),  000 
S4,4S4,000 
.2;0!>6,000    . 

Tol)acco  Manufactured,  Ihs 

F'xport  of  Manufactures 
Distilled  Si)irits,  gals 

. 

' 

SELECTED  ITEMS  OF  INTEREST  ON 
AGRICULTURE. 


In  1064  wheat  nas  sown  in  Canada  for  the  first   time;  farmers  carried  arms 
to  defend  themselves  from  sa\ages.    It  was  not  until  1854  that  the  feudal  system 
was  abolished;  under  this  system  the  farms  were  burdened  with  enormous  taxes. 
Total   number   of  Helds  in  '~A  wiis  2,220,  possess«d   by    1 10  Leigneui's  and  about 
72,000  renters;  the  area  occupied  vas  12,828,000  acres,  half  of  which  was  rentetl. 
Number  of  acres  under  cultivation  in  '01  was  13,128,000.     In  1852,  Quebec   had 
244,000  under  wheat;  955,000  under  oats;  75,000  under  buckwheat;  139^000  under 
barley;    83,000  under  rye;  15,000  under  corn;    118,000  under  potatoes.     Nation- 
ality:    The  F'rench  Canadian  gain  in  Montreal  has  increased  from  53  to  50  per 
cent.;  if  they  rule  the  city   its  rapid   progress  will  end.     Manufactures:     A  St* 
John  tomato  canning  factory  put  up  23,000  cans  in  1882.  The  capital  of  Quebec's 
cotton  factories  in  1 882  was  !$2,000,000.      In  a  woolen  factory  at  Sherbrooke,  the 
output  of  cloth  is  800,000  yds  per  year;  in  it  000  hands  ai'e  employed  and  over 
800,  00  lbs.  of  wool  is  used    The  wool  is  all  imported;  Canadian  wool   being  too 
long  to  make  nice  cloth  or  neat,  smooth  finish  necessary;  for  popular  goods  Cape 
wool  is  used,  which  diminishes  half  in  cleaning  and  working.      Sherbrooke  has 
also  a  flannel  mill,  employing  Ho  hands,  with  an  output  of  300,000  yds.     The 
largest  knitting  factory  in  Canada  is  at  Chaticock,  it  turns  out  400  dozen  shirts 
ana  drawers  per  week.     Since  the  recent  extension  of  Valleyfield  cotton  factory, 


STATISTICS.  361 

1,231  hands  ^ro  employed;  tlie  new  Reutiun  will  bo  devoted  to  the  manufacture 
of  colored  'ind  dyed  g.K)dd,  hitherto  not  inudo  in  Canada.  A  Canadian  cheese 
factory  received  I,4>'.>,0JJ  lbs.  of  milk  and  made  14J,UJJ  lbs.  of  cheese;  average 
amount  of  mdk  to  make  a  pound  of  chjes  ;,  ll)-3J  Ibd.  In  Canada  2,030,000  ft.  of 
luiiDJt-  14  a.iaiiilly  nuaiit'ajtiu'^d.  MiiJella.iejiH  prjd.uts,  stutidCijs  and  facta 
fnun  the  yoar  1817  to  I8t). — 'Jiaada'd  oxj)>rti  of  fur  ranked  next  to  thoieof  tim- 
ber; tliQ  fur  consisted  of  bear,  stag,  elk,  deer,  fox,  martin,  wild<cat,  mink,  a  great 
variety  of  the  weazel  spjciis,  bjavor  and  ottor.  Tiie  agg'regate  value  of  tlio  trade 
wa^  l.)0,03J  pounds  Hterling,  annually  according  to  the  <  caprice  of  fashion. 
Another  articlj  of  export  for  that  pariod  was  pot  and  pear  a.nh..  ,  1,000,000  lbs. 
turkey  is  frozen  annually  in  Canada  and  Maine  for  New  York  markets.  Many 
be'J  keepers  in  Canada  feed  their  bees  for  a  part  of  the  winter  on  sugar.  Review 
of  Canada's  wars  and  rebellions. — In  1007  war  between  the  Frenqhand  Indians; 
in  1020  Quebec  surrendered  to  the  English;  in  10.S2  Englan<I  renounces  all  claims 
to  New  France;  in  1({4()  Inilians  destroy  muny  French  settlements;  Krench  mili- 
tary force  in  1U87,  2,(K)0;  in  1090  the  Indians  destroy  Montreal;  same  year  the 
French  and  their  Indian  allies  destroy  many  EiigUsli  settlements  and  villages; 
in  KiOOSirVV.  Philipps  an<l  Iket  attacked  Quebec  and  lost  1,000  men.  The 
English  and  French  at  this  time  paid  the  savages  high  premiums  for  the  scalps  of 
Freiichmen  and  Englishmen;  same  year  the  Fiench  defeated  700  English  before 
Montreal;  Kostonians  commence  tiie  subjngatiun  of  Acadia;  The  Frei^ch  armtd 
force  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river  now  numbered  4  800;  the  English  teiiit. a  fjeet 
and  4,000  infantry  against  them,  but  a  storm  destroyed  a  part  of  the  fleet;  the 
Frencli  had  100  cannons  on  the  ramparts  of  Quebec.  In  1720  the  English  and 
French  fortiHed  stragetic  places  on  the  lake  frontier  of  Canada;  in  1745  a  war 
broke  out  between  England  and  France;  the  French  and  savages  of  Canada  in  3 
years  made  27  raids  on  English  settleuients.  In  1750  Marquis  Montcalm  arrived 
in  Canada  with  1,400  men  and  1,.S00,000  in  specie;  the  whole  French  army  num- 
btyed  12,000;  in  1759  adilitional  forces  were  sent  from  France;  in  all  the  early 
engagements  the  French  were  successful;  in  1758,  the  5th  year  of  the  war,  the 
forts  '^\intenac,  Duquense  and  others  surrended  to  the  English,  as  a  whole,  how- 
ever, the  French  were  superior  to  them  in  military  glory.  Towards  the  close  of 
tlie  war  the  French  forcas  numbered  15,033,  the  Knglish  30,030;  the  Frencii  were 
defeated,  the  Governor  and  3,000  French  people  returned  to  France,  the  remaiur 
der  became  British  subjects.  During  the  American  revolution.  Quebec  was  un- 
8Ucc3saftiHy  attacked  by  the  'Americans;  front  1S12  to  1814  there  was  desultory 
warffire  along  the  American  and  Canadian  borders,  in  which  the  Americans  were 
generally  the  losers.  From  1832  to  1837  portions  of  Canada  were  in  a  state  cf 
rebellion;  in  the  most  serious  engagement  100  men  were  killed  and  370  wounded. 
A  cartridge  factory  has  been  started  at  Quebec  by  the  Dominion  Government 
which  manufactures  50,000  cartridges  a  day.  In  1804,  British  North  America 
posaesd^^d  533,033  man  capable  of  bearing  arms,  but  had  only  at  that  period 
30,000  militia,  on  account  of  the  apathy  of  the  government  and  people  to  keep  a 
militia  organization  in  a  proper  condition.  Revenue,  Debt,  Expenditure  and 
Financial  Review  of  Canada. — In  1832  revenue  $2,003,000,  expenditure  $2,058,- 
000;  in  1862  revenue  $12,293,000,  expemliture  $13,290,003,  debt  $70,935,000; 
rev.  in  '80, $33,300,000,  exp.  $27,000,000.  Quebec  crown  lands  in  '82,  $1 ,000,0CO 
The  Dominion  subsidy  to  tne  Quebec  government  under  theB.N.A.act  is  $969,000, 
Quebec's  debt  in'82,  $15,000,000,  chidfly  incurred  in  rly  enterprise.  Since  the  debris 
of  the  crash  of  '75  has  been  cleared  away,  there  has  been  a  super  abundance  of 
capital  seeking  iuvestmeut  in  Canada.     The  great  increase  in  wealth  as  indicated 

46 


362 


STATISTICS. 


l)y  bank  deposits  was  the  outcome  of  the  economy  forced  upon  the  peop'^  Hy  the 
depression  of  1875  to  1878,  and  the  bountiful  harvests  ot  1879-80  81;  but  the 
totore  of  capital  has  been  drawn  upon  in  the  establishment  of  new  enterprises,  ex- 
tension of  foreign  and  home  trade,  land  investments  and  railway  construction. 
A  comparison  of  the  banks  in  Canada  in  Sept.  1881  and  1882  will  show  the  occa- 
sion of  the  advance  in  the  rate  of  interest:  Due  by  banks  in  Canada  to  banks  in 
the  U.  S.  Sept.  1881,  $90,982;  in  1882,  $62,422.  Due  banks  in  the  United 
Kingdom  in  1881,  $1,447,174;  in  1882,  $2,205,208.  Circulation  in  1881,  $27,481,- 
000;  in  1882,  $1^1,458,000.  Quebec  dep  its  in  1881,  $83,418,000;  in  1882,  $99,- 
734,000.  Specis  in  1881,  $6,205,000;  in  1882,  $7,621,000.  Dominion  notes  in 
1881,  $10,540,000;  in  1882,  11,545.000.  Due  from  banks  in  Canada  in  1881,  $7,- 
621,000;  in  1S82,  99,430,000.  Due  from  banks  in  the  U.  S.  in  1881.  $19,388,000; 
in  1882,  $14,371,000.  Due  from  banks  in  the  United  Kingdom  in  1881,  $4,285,- 
000;  in  1882,  $1,144,000.  Advances  on  stocks  and  bonds  in  1881,  $I0,205,0(K); 
in  1882,  $15,931,000.  Commercial  discounts  in  1881,  $10,205,000;  in  1882.  $152,- 
080,000.  The  cash  reserves  of  the  banks  including  specie,  dominion  notes  and 
balance  due  from  other  banks  in  1882  was  $44,511,00);  in  1881,  $47,967,000.  In 
the  foreign  exchanges  in  1881  the  balance  in  favor  of  Canada  was  $22,188,000; 
in  1882  only  $13,344,000;  on  the  other  hand  loans  have  rapidly  increase<l,  the 
discounts  of  '82  exceeding  those  of  '81  by  the  large  sum  of  $29,555,000.  A  free 
trade  paper  says,  the  old  Canadian  tariff  in  '81  wouUl  have  yiekled  enough  to 
meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Dominion  government.  The  large  surplus  of 
over  $6,000  for  '82  represents  so  much  over  taxation.  The  capital  of  13  leading 
Canadian  banks  amounts  to  $41,570,000;  discounts,  $1,113,000;  liabilities  of 
directors,  $6,638,000-  From  >gistered  letter  department  in  1871,  the  Canadian 
•government  received  $367,000,  and  in  '81,  $841,000.  The  deposits  in  M(mtreal 
District  Savings  Bank  in  Dec.  '82  amounted  to  $6,000,000  deposited  by  26.000, 
depositors.  The  first  year  protection  was  in  force  the  Canadian  receipts  only 
amounted  to  $23,307,000  against  an  expenditure  of  $24,850,000,  which  the  Lil^r- 
erals  noticed  with  great  jubilation,  but  the  years  '80-'81  placed  a  different  face 
on  the  matter,  the  receipts  running  up  to  $29,635,000  against  an  expenditure  of 
$25,502,000.  It  gives  Canadians  satisfaction  to  see  a  decrease  of  $61,000  in  the 
imports  of  Montreal  Port  in  Dec.  '81.  Canadian  revenue  for  Nov.  '82:  Customs, 
$1,820,000;  excire  $054,000;  postoflice  107,000;  public  works,  including  rlys.,  .34,- 
800;  misscellaneous  166,000,  total  $3,099,000.  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the 
value  of  goods  that  entered  the  Dominion  for  consumption  for  the  month  of  Oct. 
'82,  exclusive  of  British  Columbia:  total  dutiable  goods  $7,648,000;  free  goocls 
2,955,000;  coin  and  bullion  except  as  coin  $6,161.  Statement  of  the  banks  of 
Canada  for  Nov.  '82:  capital  paid  up  $60,930,000;  Dominion  government  deposit 
$8,891,000;  provincial  government  deposits  $2,160,000;  deposits  to  secure  con- 
tracts $152,000;  public  deposits  $97,052,000;  loans  from  other  banks  1,367,000; 
due  banks  in  Canada  $1,267,000;  due  banks  in  the  U.  S.  162,404;  due  banks  in 
the  United  Kingdom  1,992,000;  other  liabilities  $551,374;  assets,  specie 
$6,648,000;  Dominion  notes  11,025,000;  notes  from  other  banks  $6,893,000;  due 
from  banks  in  other  countries  12,09,000;  due  from  banks  in  the  United  Kingdom 
2,834,000;  government  debentures  1,021,000;  foreign  securities  1,479,000;  loans 
fo  government  1,639,000;  loans  on  stocks  and  bonds   15,834,000;  loans  to  munci- 

Eal  corporations  2,154,000;  loans  to  other  corporations  11,162,000;  loans  to  other 
Einks  559,00;  discounts  current  445,696,000;  disceunts  over  due  unsecured  1,- 
448,000;  discounts  over  due,  secured, $1,728, 000;  real  estate  1,398.000;  mortgage 
dn  estate  sold  746,000;    bank  premises  3,102,000;  other  assets  $2,251,000;  total 


STATISTICS.  363 

$233,203,000;  directors  liabilities  9,354;  expenditures  for  Quebec  government  for 
'81 :  public  debt  82»,UJU;  legiaiatiuu  $^37,134;  civil  government  $179,000;  udniin- 
iaLiuiioii  ot  justice  ^ySU.OOU;  police  otficiuis,  Quebec  and  Muatiui,  lo,uOO;  rciurui- 
utuiies  44,000;  inapectiunot  public  ottices,  travelling  expenses,  etc.  ,9,800;  educatii  u 
342,000;  spjcial  lU>nian  Catholic  educational  fund  for  schools  of  art  and  scientea 
oOO;  literary  and  scientific  institutions  l^J.-'^OOi  boards  of  art  and  manufactures. 
10,000;  agriculture  97,000;  immigration  and  repropriation  14,000;  colonizatioa 
8,240;  public  works  and  buildings  1,212,63;  charaties  298,299,  miscellaneous 27,- 
199;  pension  fund  8,385;  muncipalitics  tund  144,000;  Crown  land  department 
102,126;  Quebec  ofiiciid  gazette  13,776;  stamps,  licenses,  etc,,  2,724;  special  po-, 
lice  revenue  purposes  4,146;  marriage  licenses  6,000;  loan  to  Papist  fathers  10,-' 
000;  payment  of  revenue  oflicera  out  of  collections  made  by  them  16,306;  Quebec^ 
Ottawa,  Montreal  and  accidental  rly.  expenses,  trattic,  etc.,  7i.3,0OO;  repayments 
of  temporary  loans  871,000;  consolidated  rly.  fund  911,000;  deduct  warrants  out-* 
standing  3,082,  balance  $379,000.  In  '83  the  debt  of  the  Dominion  was  $200,000,- 
000;  some  papers  say  that  Eastern  Canadians  are  looking  up  too  much  capital 
in  tiie  North-West  an«t  that  it"may  bring  on  a  financial  crisis.  The  Dominica-, 
government  spent  on  government  bon<is  in  '82  $511,852.  The  Canadian  Indian 
fund  held  in  trust  for  Indians  amounts  to  $3,147,000.  Canada's  total  imports  for 
1883,  $91,611,000;  of  which  $36,704,000  was  from  the  U.  S.,  in  1880  Canada  bad 
311  banks,  in  '68  Canada  had  81  postottices;  saving  banks,  in  '81,304  with  $4,175,-: 
000;  <leposits  in  1880  had  5,600  postotfices.  Canada's  exports  in  June  '83,  $10,- 
173,526;  imports  9,090,000;  Internal  revenue  $504,228;  Eastern  receipts  368,181..' 
Excise  Dominion  of  Canada,  statement  of  tobacco  manufactures  and  duties  occur- 
ing  on  them  in  1880;  amount  paid  in  licenses  $6,500;  cigar  duty  174,391;  snuff 
duty  21,784;  duty  collected  on  manufactory  268,780;  duty  on  goods  warehouse<> 
1,528,000;  tobacco  duty  $1,549,182;  total  duty  1,766,000.  The  payments  of 
the  Canadian  government  in  '80  were  53,284,000.  Revenue  of  Canada  for  th«j 
month  of  August  '82:  from  spirits  $219,000,  seizures  22,490;  spirits  from  barley 
55,?  t;  malt  22,179;  tobacco  173,000;  coal  oil  inspection  1,957;  products  of  man-r 
ufacture  2,762.  other  receipts  1,909;  canals  53,504;  lumber  inspection  9,478;  rent 
of  hydraulic  and  other  powers  $692;  public  works  of  least  importance  $209;  in- 
spection of  weights  and  measures  1,731;  inspection  of  gas  375.  In  '77  the  re- 
ceipts of  Canada's  registry  postal  department  was  $;i67,438;  in  '81  $841,497, 
The  new  Parliament  House  in  Quebec  is  to  cost  $300,000.  Quebec's  postotiicei 
revenue  in  '80  $448,351;  expenditure  $559,412.  Labor,  land  and  produce  :nar-. 
ket  of  Canada;  the  price  of  cereals  in  '81:  Fall  wheat  8lct8.  a  oushel  to  $1.35j 
(Spring  wheat  $1.34;  barley  90cts.,  peas  75,  oats  42.  In  1882  wheat  <vas$l,15,' 
Spring  wheat  $1.20,  barley  75,  peas  75,  oats  35.  The  decline  of  price  mi  barley: 
and  wheat  made  a  loss  of  $11,000,  to  the  farmers  of  Ontario.  A  raft  of  pinft 
timber  350,000  ft.  in  Quebec  in  '82  sold  for  $100,700;  17,622  square  ft.  on  ISher-. 
brooke  st.  Montreal  soM  for  87ct8.  a  foot;  a  corner  store  on  Boncventure  st.  Mon-; 
treal,  for  $4,000.  Tlie  following  are  the  salaries  of  Montreal's  tire  brigade;  to 
the  chief  1,800,  to  sub-chiefs  $1,300;  engineers  700,  fireman  $550.  The  demand 
in  '83  for  skillcvl  labor  is  such  that  it  cannot  be  supplied  at  home,  hence  employ-; 
ers  are  obliged  to  advertise  in  English  papers.  Stock  in  store  in  Montreal  oui 
Dvjc.  6th  '82;  wheat  223,705  bus'^^ls;  corn  8,000,  peas  21,934,  oats  68,744,  bar-; 
ley  5,594,  rye 2, 182,  flour,  bariels  j7,844,  oat  meal  265  barrels*  A  Quebec  cheese, 
factory  sold  its  cheese  in  '82  at,  from  11  to  15cts.  a  lb.;  Tommy  cods  in  Montreal 
in  '83  at  $1  u  birrel;  in  '59,  134,000  acres  were  sold  in  Quebec  for  $76,960;  in  '63' 
279,993  acres  for  $154,983.     The  Quebec  public  lands  are  sold  under  three  desig-. 


5^4 


STATISTICS. 


nntionH  brown,  cVergy  and  school  lands.     Exports  of  tho  dominion  of  Canada  for 
1880,  $87,911,451.     Value  of  ^oods  entered  for  consumption  $71,782,349.     And 
tride,  commerce,  shipping  etc — from  the   yrs.  1817  to  '40  tlie  aggregate  exports 
of  Canada,  including  the  Ireight  of  a  portion  of  the  lumber  exported  in  Canadian 
built  vessels,    amounted    to    $4,000,000    annually,  and   in  the  same  period  Can- 
ada imported  from  Gt.  Britain  a  supply  of  manufacture<l  and  Asiatic  products  to 
the    amount    of    $7,000,000  annually;    from    May  to  August  '85  Allan  steamers 
teok  4,499  oxen,  to  4  horses    and  3,445  sheep  from   Montreal  to  England;   dur- 
ing 3  months  ending  Sept.  '82  there   were  100  failures  in   Canada  m  ith  liabilities 
amounting  to  $1,7 15,000 against  130  last  yr.  same  period  with  $787,000  lial)ilities. 
Total  receipts  of  flour  in  Canada  from  Ist  Jan.  '82  to  4th  of  Oct.  '82—590,470  l>rl8. 
8ame  period  in  '81 — 613,051  brls.     Apple  shipments  from  Montreal  for  the  season 
of  '82—45,981  brls.     Eastern  Canada  in  '82  shipped  to  WiKnipe/r  $2,000,000  worth 
of  goods;  groceries  1,500,000;  libuor  3,000;    settlers  eftVcts  008,400;  machinery 
and  implements  $1,000,000;  manufactures  of  leather  200,000;  hardware  2,000.000; 
miscellaneous  goods  4,500,000,    comprising  lumber,  ready  made  houses,    briad- 
Btutf,  furniture,animals.  When  nature  formed  Lachine  rapids  she  decreed  tliat  Mon- 
treal should  torm  the  head  of  nj^vigation.     Quebec's  lumber  trade  for  '82,  12,005,- 
240  ft.;  in  '81,  11,333,900  ft.;    in  '80,  27,190,700  ft.;  in  '79,  7,708,240  ft.;  in  '78,- 
11,999,700  ft.      In  '82,  227,040  was  of  ash,  213,080  of  birch,  1,959,700  eak,  778,- 
360  elm,  square  timber,  white  pine,  waney,  912,160;   red  pine  1,024,, 680  ft.     In 
'82  Quebec  received  in  rafts,  5,935,977  standard  of  pine;  in  '81,  0,973,529;  in  '80, 
9,023,393:  in  '79,  7,054,719  standard  of  pine  and  spruce;  in  '78,  3,092,990  of  pine 
alone.     Before  the  estahlishment  of  the   reciprocity  treaty   in    1854  the  average 
transacLions  between  Canada  and  the  U.  S.  w«re  $14,000,000  per  annum.      '1  lie 
2nd  year  after  reciprocity  was  in  force,    the  'trade  between   the   two  countries 
to  over  $40,000,000,  and  the  year  before  the  Afcroga tion  of  the  treaty  they    were 
$84,670,955.     The  Canadian   people   have  adopted  retalitory  measures,  but  the 
fact  that  during  the  existence  of  the  treaty  th*;  people  of  Canada  ))ought    from 
the  U.  !S.  $346,180,364,  and  the   U.   S.    purchased   from   Canada,   $325,726,200, 
which  was  a  great  proof  in  favor  of  reciprocity.      The  amount   of  grain  shipped 
from   Montreal   in   '82   has   been  8,600,099  bushels;    in  '81,  13,00  »,000,  and  the 
average  for  the  past  10  yeiirs,  13,000,000;   of  the  amount  of   '81,  0,332,538  M'as 
wheat  and  3,334,078  of  corn.      Amount  of  goods  entered  at  Port  Montreal  in  '81, 
$35,918,935;  duty  collected,  $7,027,139;  in  '82,  $40,644,581.     Receipts  of  Quebec 
government  in  '81,  $5,263,273  as  follows:     Balance  in  banks  in  June,  '81,  Domin- 
ion of  Canada  subsidy   and     interest  on  trust  funds,  $1,014,712;  Province  of 
Ontario,  interest  on   common   school  fund,   $25,000;    Crown   land   department, 
$800,473;    Department   of  justice,   $233,715;    Public   officers,   $9,084;    License 
hotels,  ships,  etc, ,  $244,010;  Legislation,  $9,734;  Lunatic  asylums,  $2,907;    Que- 
bec?'Official  Calotte,  $20,988;    Public  works,  buildings,  rents,  etc.,  $960;  Casual 
revenue,  $1,418;  Superannuated  teachers,  $18,483;   Quebec  city  fire  loan,  $1,160; 
Municipal  loan  fund' tiif 'Lower  Canada,  $554,146;  Trust  funds,  0,784;  Repayments 
Beaufort  asylum  proprietors,  $6,000;    St.    Jean  de  Dieu  asylum  interest,  G,C00, 
refnnds,  $6,823;  Quebec,  Montreal,  Ottawa  and  Occidental  railway  revenue,  $1,- 
024,994;  Temporary  loans  from  the  Bank   of  Montreal,     600,000;    from   Quebec 
Central   railway,    returned   aubsid}'  and   guarantee  de^iosit,  000,849;  Canadian 
debentures  advanced  in  4  years  12  per  cent.      The  receipts  of  the  Richelieu  and 
Ontario  Navigation  Company  for  '82  were  $504,220;  its  disburseuients,  $18,420. 
The  company  paid  2  dividends  in  the  year  of  3  jer  cent.      Total   value   of  fuis 
eold  by  thy  Hudson  Bay  Company  since  organization,  $120,000,000,     In  '83'  Can- 


STATISTICS.  365^ 

ada  exported  $25,000,000  worth  of  lumber;  in  1850  Canada  exported  2,035,000 
bushelsof  oats,  1,700,000  of  rye,  090,803  ot  ptas,  nearly  12,000,000  of  wheat 
and  427,0i)7  bbls.  tijur.  The  following  is  the  value  of  the  exportation  and  im- 
portation of  the  Canadian  Province  since  their  confederation  in  '08:  Exports  in 
'00,  $60,474,700;  imports,  l!?70,4I5,000;  Custom  receipts,  $8,298,000;  in  '70,  ex- 
ports $73,573,000;  imports,  $123,070,000;  Custom  receipts,  $15,301,000;  in  '81, 
exports  $98,290,000;  imports,  $10.3,330,840;  Custom  receipts,  $18,700,000.  Kx- 
ports  of  the  Port  of  Quebec  in  '80,  $0,448,097,  its  imports  $0,242,775.  Hospi- 
tals, disease,  mortality,  etc. — Notre  Dame  hospital  during  '81,  treated  876 
patients,  408  males  and  408  femab's;  at  the  general  dispensary  attached  to  the 
hospital,  3,084  patients  were  treated,  and  at  tiie  eye  and  ear  dispensary,  778; 
total,  4,791.  The  number  of  beds  occupied  in  the  Montreal  general  hospital 
averages  150.  At  the  Montreal  dispensary  |0,000  patients  are  treated  annually; 
the  expenditure  for  the  last  quarter  of  '83  was  $10,3^35;  number  of  patients  re- 
maining iu  the  hospital  from  last  quarter  of  '83,  121;  number  admitted  during 
the  quarter,  501;  number  of  patients  discharged,  452;  deaths  32;  number  cured 
during  the  quarter,  484;  number  outdijor  consultations  during  last  quarter  1542 
males,  1 145  females;  eye  and  ear  consultation?,  1,330.  Th  ore  were  40  oases  of 
typhoid  fever  during  the  quarter,  3  fatal.  In  '01,379  were  admitted  and  330 
discharged  from  the  Lunatic  Asylums  of  Canada,  East  aiid  West.  In  Canada 
$7,750,000  is  paid  annually  to  Eire  Insurance  companies;  rate  of  insurance  110; 
in  France  it  is  only  010;  in  the  U.  S.  090;  ratio  of  population  insured,  30  i'l  Can- 
ada, 15  in  U.  S.  and  75  in  France.  Canada's  loss  by  fire  annually,  $41,000;  loss 
annually  per  inh.  $230;  in  the  U.  S.  $105.  Some  of  Canada's  j»atioiial  sports. — 
Lacrosse  is  one  of  Canada's  national  sports;  it  is  an  Indian  game;  an  Irish  Mon- 
treal team  are  the  champions  of  the  world;  Canada  has  a  chess  association.  At 
Montreal  carnival  in  1883,  tobagganing,  curling,  skating  on  innnense  rinks  on 
the  St.  Lawrence;  an  ice  palace  costing  $2,000,  lit  with  electric  light;  snow- 
shoeing,  a  steeple  chase,  torch  light  processions,  trotting  races,  lacrosse  matches, 
excursions  on  the  ice  railway  and  other  novelties  were  the  order  of  the  day.  The 
close  season  for  all  sorts  ot  deer  in  the  Province  of  Quel ec  is  from  Jan.  1st  to 
Sept.  1st;  partridge,  from  Jan.  Ist  to  Sept  15th;  close  season  for  wild  ducks  and 
geese,  from  1st  of  May  and  15th  of  Sept.  to  15th  of  April  a^id  Ist  Sept;  close  sea- 
son for  insectiveroas  and  all  other  birds  excepting  eagles,  hawks,  wild  pigeons, 
crows  ravens,  wax  wings  and  shrike,  from  1st  of  Marcli  and  l.<*t  01  May  to  Ist  of 
March  and  1st  Sept.  To  slide  down  a  hill  over  unbeaten  snow  a  tobaggon  is  a 
decided  success,  but  on  a  well  beaten  track  it  figures  like  a  scow  with  a  shell 
boat  placed  alongside  of  the  "Ameaican  Bab."  The  department  ol  fisheries  in 
'82  decided  to  brmg  in  use  a  lish  ladder  to  be  used  In  sabnon  streams  which  will 
do  away  with  the  necessity  of  maintaining  hatcheries.  ■  After  many  poor  years 
the  Canadian  fisheries  produced  in  '82  $14,504,000  worth  of  fish.  Religion. — 
Eritncis  I  of  France  justly  rebelled  against  the  Pope  forgiving  to  Spain  the  wliole 
Continent  of  America.  The  intestine  wars  which  existed  between  the  Catholics 
and  Hugenots  in  France  gave  rise  to  the  proscription  of  Protestants  in  the  FrcncH^ 
colonies  of  America.  Dt  Monts,  a  Calvinist  and  a  favorite  of  Henry  the  IV,  was 
allowed  the  free  exercise  his  religion  for  himself  and  his  followers,  on  condition 
that  he  should  establish  the  Catholic  religion  among  the  natives.  In  1000,  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  in  France  endowed  a  number  of  conventional  institu- 
tions in  Canada.  The  island  of  Montreal  was  granted  religious  orders,  who 
erected  numerous  convents  on  it.  The  Viceroy  of  Canada  hav^ing  entered  the 
holy  orders,  his  chief  aim  was  to  couve:t  the  natives;  for  this  purpose  he  sent  3 


366 


STATISTICS. 


Jesuits  and  2  lay  brothers  to  join  the  4  Recollects  at  Quebec;  these  0  were  the 
uuiy  priests  tbuu  in  Canada.  Cardinal  Richelieu  now  revoked  the  privileges  of 
the  liugunots  and  ordered  that  all  emigrants  to  Canada  should  be  native  J?rench- 
men  and  i{x>niau  Cutholies.  and  tliat  no  stranger  or  li<:rt!tic  sliouiU  be  intri^duced 
into  Canada.  In  1044  tlie  French  inissionurictt  began  to  combine  with  tneir  le* 
ligious  ettbrts  political  objects  ami  employed  all  their  iutluence  iu  furthering 
tiencl)  power.  In  1002  the  governor  and  bishop  had  a  dispute  which  ixsuiled 
in  the  recall  of  the  former.  In  1080  (.Quebec  was  constituted  a  bishopric  and  in 
the  Governor,  Xntendant,  Bishop  and  military  c:  cers  were  centered  all  power 
legislative,  executive  and  judicial.  I'he  bisliop  and  the  clergy  were  all  poweiful 
and  the  power  of  the  Kccleoiustial  court  was  not  uuf  requentiy  employed  in  reg- 
ulating and  controlling  the  civil  tribunals.  Canada  was  cousiitutuil  an  a|jostoiic 
vicarte  in  1057  and  became  an  Episcopal  6ce  in  1074.  In  lOdUthe  Cutliolic  clergy 
passed  from  the  hands  of  the-ilesuits  into  those  of  the  secular  prieslhood;  1:^0 
of  the  products  of  tiie  soil  was  ordered  to  l)e  paid  to  the  clergy  which  is  still  the 
case  iii'82.  'J'he  most  complete  religious  liberty  was  grantcil  the  l^rench  after  their 
conquest  by  England.  During  the  American  revoiuiio.i  the  Catholic  bishop  of 
Canada  addressed  a  cyclical  letter  to  his  Canadian  pttple  exhorting  them  to  be 
true  to  British  rule  and  repel  the  American  invaders.  Aiie  Canadian  constitution 
of  1774  conHrmed  French  civil  procedure,  guarantee*!  the  tre«  exercise  of  the  Ko- 
man  Catholic  religion  and  sanctioned  the  payment  of  tithes.  In  I'iiU!)  an  Engluh 
Protestant  bishop  was  stationed  at  Quebec.  In  1804  Canada  had  140  priesii'.  In 
Quebec  in  1800  there  were  580,000  Catholics.  Methodist  church  of  Canada  has 
one  general  Conference  for  the  Dominion,  composed  of  ministers  aiul  lu^Uien  lu 
equal  numbers,  which  meet  once  in  4  years  for  Icuislative  purposes  only.  'Ihere 
are  0  Conferences  which  meet  in  the  Dominion  annually  for  the  general  revieM'  of 
pastoral  work,  but  are  incapable  of  any  legislative  act  and  are  composed  of  minis* 
ters  only,  every  ordained  minister  being  a  member  of  some  one  ol  them.  Every, 
minister  must  change  his  pastoral  charge  in  H  years.  These  exclianges  are  ar- 
ranged by  a  committee  composed  of  ministers  only,  2  from  each  district  called  tlie 
stationing  committee.  The  children  of  dticeased  or  superanuated  Methodist  min- 
isters receive  ^'20  a  year  till  18  years  of  age.  In  'S'2.  the  Methodist  church  of  Can- 
ada spent  ^184,203  tor  Indian,  French  aud  foreign  missions,  and  ^52.000  on  home 
missions.  There  are  4  Methodist  bodies  in  Canada:  Methodist  church  of  Can- 
ada 582,902;  Episcopal  Methodists  103,372;  Bible  Christians  27,230;  Trimitive 
Methodists  25,080.  'J'he  idea  of  an  organic  union  of  the  4  Methodist  churches  of 
Caiif.da  had  been  steadily  growing  and  tliere  has  been  proposed  coiicessions  by 
each  of  the  bodies.  In  1743  in  Montreal  a  French  soldier  for  disrespect  to  a  c?u- 
citix  was  led  tlirough  the  streets  with  a  halter  around  his  neck  and  njade  kneel 
before  the  door  of  a  church  and  humbly  confess  his  profanity  of  holy  things,  alter 
which  he  was  sentenced  to 3  years  hard  labor  on  the  king»  galleys.  The  nuiiiia 
of  the  Pope  in  '82  had  many  of  Montreal's  citizens  in  its  ranks.  The  reteipt^and 
expenditures  of  the  Angelican  church  of  Canada  in  '82  about  balanced.  Bete  pts 
from  Montreal  subscriptions  |4,403;  county  t  >ib8criptJonsit2,433;  from  the  society 
for  the  propogation  of  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts  $4,490;  miscellaneous  $550;  in- 
terest on  sustentation  fund  $2,702;  c'ergy  trust  $1,154.  Amongst  its  expendi- 
tures itpaid  $9,520  to  pensioners  and  to  missionaries  $4,413.  By  a  Canon  of 
Synod  in  'S2  Deacons  are  to  receive  $500,  Priests  under  10  years  study  $000.  The 
revenue  of  the  Fabrigue  of  Montreal  is  steadily  decreasin^^  Ihe  biKiiop  published 
the  following  in  '82:  "To  remove  the  Fabrigucs  debt  the  Holy  name  of  Cod  .s 
invoked;  we  have  ruled,  enacted  and  ordered  as  follows:  Each  family  in  our  p.-.r- 


STATISTICS.  367 

ishes  will  pay  annually  for  the  extinction  of  the  debt  of  the  Fabrigue  of  Notie 
Dame  the  auin  of  $J;  every  Catholic  of  18  years  and  over  earning  a  salary  or  pro- 
viding for  his  own  maintenance  will  pay  for  the  same  purpose  $1.  The  Presby-' 
terian  church  of  Canada  has  42  ordained  missionaries  amongst  the  French  of 
Qaebsc;  41  mission  day  school  teachers;  11  colporteurs;  4  Bible  wouien;  total 
number  emp'oyed  in  mission  work  113.  The  work  is  carried  on  at  90  preaching 
stations  having  $  church  membership  of  3,180,  andan  average  artendmice of  6,401; 
it  has  also  4S  8abbath  schools  with  1,930  scliulars;  23  institutes  and  day  bciiools 
with  827  pupils.  31  of  which  are  tlieological  students.  In  '82  Ottawa  and  Mont- 
real Bible  societies  distributed  3,095  bibles.  A  Protestant  missionary  soys:  "The 
Protestant  churcl)ts  of  Canada  liave  a  coumion  interest  and  should  combine  in 
one  Congress  so  us  to  fulfill  as  one  body  the  grand  commission  of  the  church  uni- 
versal. Another  M'riter  maintains  that  the  divided  front  of  Protestantism  does 
not  retard  chriartian  conquest  in  foreign  lands  so  long  as  the  liunian  mind  is  con- 
stituted as  ii;  is  there  is  real  necessity  for  diverse  centers  of  religious  thought." 
Another  writer  said,  "Better  the  clear  and  eniphatic  decluratirms  of  belief  at 
present  extant  than  the  mute  and  meaningless  attitude  of  the  proposed  organic 
union."  Some  of  the  Fench  papers  in  Quebec  hope  that  if  the  French  monarchy 
is  restored  the  Pope  will  regain  his  temporal  power.  Form  of  government,  pol 
itics,  legislation,  taxation,  national  usages,  etc.  In  early  times  Canada  was  divi- 
ded in  3  districts,  Montreal,  Quebec  and  Three  rivers,  and  a  governor  located  in 
each.  In  1G<)1  a  judge  was  appointed  over  all  matters  in  tho  colony  called  a 
"grand  seneschel. "  In  consequence  of  abuse  of  power  this  system  was  remodelled 
and  a  sovereign  council  appointed,  which  consisted  of  governor  general,  intendent, 
bishop,  attorney  general,  and  .5  councillors,  afterwards  12.  Various  courts  were 
constituted.  In  1717  Uii  admiralty  court  was  established;  this  system  was  con- 
tinued till  1760.  Till  16  >3  the  ,/overnor  had  exercised  in  person  and  without  con- 
trol all  the  functions  of  the  government  but  Louis  created  Canada  into  a  royal 
goveriunent  with  a  council  and  intendant,  to  whom  should  be  intrusted  the 
mighty  affairs  of  justice,  police,  finance  and  marine.  Under  the  royal  jurisdiction 
the  governor,  a  kings  conmiissioner,  an  apostolic  vicar  and  4  other  gentlemen, 
were  formed  into  a  sovereign  council,  to  these  were  confined  the  powers  of  cogniz- 
ance in  all  cases  civil  or  criminal,  to  judge  in  the  last  resort  according  to  the  laws 
and  maimers  of  France.  Its  governors  on  state  occasions  were  surrounded  by  a 
body  guard,  valets  and  pages.  In  1721  mails  were  conveyed  betwoen  Quebec  and 
Montreal.  The  French  were  so  gi  atified  with  the  change  they  experienced  in 
coming  under  British  rule,  thut  when  George  II.  died  all  the  French  in  Canada 
of  any  distijiction  went  into  mourning.  At  the  time  of  its  conquest  the  French 
government  owed  the  Canadian  people  41,000,000  francs,  little  of  which  was 
ever  paid,  The  Canadians  submitted  to  the  stamp  and  otiier  duties  of  the 
British  government.  In  the  year  1775  a  code  of  laws  was  promulgated 
in  Canada  which  combined,  with  the  same  modifications  the  Civil  code  of  France 
and  the  criminal  laws  of  England.  After  the  Popes  Bull  of  1773  expelling  che 
Jesuits  from  France  and  other  countries  the  English  appropriated  the  present  es- 
tates in  Canada  to  other  uses.  The  Canadian  government  has  frequent  changes 
since  its  conquest,  martial  law  first,  second,  military  sway,  civil  absolution,  3rd 
and  4th  an  elective  system;  under  the  latter  system  in  1792  the  House  of  Assttn- 
blage  in  Canada  East  numbered  15  members  and  that  of  Canada  West  16;  while 
the  Legislative  council  of  the  latter,  numbered  7,  that  of  the  former  15.  Under 
Lord  Dochester  Canada  was  divided  into  2  provinces,  Upper  and  Lower  Canada, 
and  a  legislature  was  established  in  each.     The  first  Provincial  Parliament  met 


3^ 


STATISTICS. 


in  Quebe3  in  1792  in  which  the  French  were  in  a  large  majority.  In  1840  Upper 
and  Lower  Canada  were  united,  and  its  legislature) consisted  ut  tiie  governcr  gen- 
eral and  two  Houses;  the  Legisiativu  council  and  Legislative  usseniljly.  In  oO 
the  qualiticatiou  for  voters  in  point lot  tact  almost  amounts  to  univeteaiisuftrtige, 
as  1  out  of  0  in  the  province  hus,  the  puiA'er  to  vote  from  paying  Jif^JoO  unuuul  iei>- 
tal  on  owning  u  free-hold  of  IfelU  yriy».'Valu^.  In  184U  tiie  levenue  nf(  lUpper  and 
Lower  Canada  was  £184,000,  aujd.exfieiMliture  £148,000.  In  1841  Upper  Canada 
had  465,375  inhabitants;  iiv. '51 -(^2,001;  in  '44  Lowur  Canada  had  C1jO,78'2;  in  'ol 
890,*20l.  The  indemniiy  of  iQuebec  memhers  was  rednctd  to  500  in, '78,  and 
raised  in  '82  to  800.  Tim  Libtjral  party  of  Quebec  have  tlebased  theuiselves  by 
asking  a  testimonial  of  harndessness  from  the  Pope  to  prevent  the  clergy  from  in- 
terfering in  tUe  elections,  and  received  the  defeat  th'6y  deserved.  The  Quehec 
government  decided  in  'ti2  to  tax  business  corporations.  A  Quebec  city  uewK- 
paper  Bays:  "our  tradesnieti«ro.mu;ed,  our  rly.  we  «old  to  our  adverBaiies,  and 
our  city  kept  in  the  claws  of  a  clique  of  manipulators."  Thcequilibriyui  between 
the  revenue  and  expenditure  of  Quebec  should  be  restored  betore  its  politicians 
should  subsidize  all  kinds  of  tjnterpi-ises  from  its  treasury,  for  its  debt  is  rapidly 
increasing  with  annual  deficits.  Tlie  new  Insolvency  act  of  Canada  has  had  the 
elTect  of  enabling  merchants  and  tradesmen,  some  of  them  dishorn  st,  to  settle 
with  their  i;reditors  for  50  and  even  'iocts.  on  the  dollar,  and  then  sell  those  goods 
in  competition  against  honest  merchants  who  pay  cent  for  cent.  The  i  ai^ional 
policy  of  protection  in  '82  is  doing  good  Vtork  as  a  stimulant  to  inimigiation. 
The  amount  of  tine  derived  fi'om  the  Scott  act  attest  that  it  is  still  in  fo»«.e  and 
violated,  but  drinking  is  robbed  of  its  respectability;  the  politicians  of  Quebec 
in  '82  want  a  larger  income  but  are  afraid  to  raise  it  by  direct  taxation,  an«l  have 
imposed  a  tax  of  ^500  on  all  life  insurance  companies  in 'the  Province,  $100  for 
all  insurance  offices  in  Montreal  and  Qucljec,  and  $500  for  all  others  elsewhere. 
Use  of  flags  by  governors  and  colonies;  1st,  the  Royal  standard  shall  he  tiown 
from  the  Government  house  on  the  Queen's  birthday,  and  on  the  days  of  Her 
Majesty's  ascension  and  coronation;  2nd,  the  union  Hag  shall  be  flown  without  the 
badge  of  the  colony,  at  the  Government  house  from  sun  rise  to  sun  set  on  other 
days;  vird,  the  union  flag  with  the  approved  arms  or  badge  of  the  colony  emblaz- 
oned in  the  center  thereof,  surrounded  by  a  green  garlami,  shall  be  useU  by  gov- 
ernors or  otticers  administering  the  government  of  the  colonies,  or  dependencies 
when  embarked  in  boats  or  other  vessels;  4th,  the  British  blue  ensign  with  the 
badge  of  the  colony  sn I  blazoned  thereon;  the  Hy  and  the  pendant  shall  be  tiown 
by  all  armed  vessels  in  the  employment  of  the  government  of  a  colony;  5th,'  the 
ent*ign  described  in  the  preceding  section  but  without  the  pendant  shall  be  Hown 
by  vessels  which  belong  to,  or  are  in  the  service  of  a  government  of  a  colony  but 
are  not  armed;  0th,  all  other  vessels  registered  as  belonging  to  one  of  Her  Majee- 
t/'s  colonies  or  dependent  -  will  liy  the  red  ensign  without  any  badge.  Thts 
there  are  2  distinct  publi  nsigns;  for  forts,  public  buildings  or  merthant  \  et- 
eels,  there  is  no  Canadian  nag  and  we  do  not  want  one  but  we  are  proud  of  the  priv- 
elege  to  use  in  common  with  our  fellow-subjects  the  world  over  the  sacred  emblem 
of  the  indivisible  and  ever  glorious  British  empire.  The  leader  of  the  Quebec 
opposition  says  in  '83:  "thatthereis  a  clause  in  the'confederation  bargain  that  is  ex- 
ceedingly untair  to  Quebec;  the  clause  fixing  our  Dominion  subsidy  at  80ctB.  per 
head  perpetually  on  the  basis  of  the  population  in '01,  while  all  the  other  prov- 
inces except  Ontario  were  entitled  to  an  increase  of  their  subsidies  on  the  increate 
of  their  population,  at  such  decennial  census.  In  consequence  of  a  long  teim  tf 
corrupt  adininstration  of  Quebec's  government,  the  condition  of  the  finances  of 


STATISTIC?.  369 

the  province  are  aerious,  not  for  its  creditors  but  its  people,  who  arc  quite  abl^ 
and  willing  to  pay  its  uebta.  The  Quebec  utiiienibly  in  'H'.i  •»  composed  of  10  law* 
yers,  13  fanners,  13m(3rchant8,  7  physicians,  7  notaries,  3  niunufacturers,  2  jouru- 
alidis  and  3  who  belong  to  no  particular  profession.  Knglish  Quebec  papers  praise 
the  government's  policy  of  iutroUuciug  the  wedge  of  direct  taxation  by  muking 
inuncipalities  support  their  own  prisoners,  it  makes  every  man  in  the  muncipality 
intercepted  in  the  tnoraU  of  his  neighhois.  The  Dondnioii  government  is  going  to 
assinulate  the  electoral  franchise  in  the  diti'erent  provinces.  The  higiiest  Cmui- 
dian  «luty  in  '80  was  3a  per  ct.  atl  valorem,  lowest  f)  per  ct.  ad  val.,  and  many 
classes  of  goods  were  admitted  free.  Canada  has  88  foreign  consuls  aud  2D0 
from  the  U.  S. ;  in  '82  Cnnacta  had  6,171  postotiices;  number  of  miles  of  routu 
48,0J7;  letters  sent  by  post  66,200,000;  postal  cards  113,000,000;  registered  let 
tors  2,430,0 jO;  free  letters  2,390,000;  newspapers  for  11  months  of  '82  11,005,- 
000;  circulars,  patterns,  miscellaneous  articles  7,186,000;  parcels  by  parcel  post 
304,000.  In  1851  Canada  had  601  postotiicee  aixl  7,595;  number  of  letters  by 
pos^  per  annum  2,135,000;  total  revenue  $230,020;  total  expenditure  $276,191. 
in  '63,  number  of  postotiices  15,327;  number  of  letters  11,000,000;  total  revenue 
$749,475;  total  expenditure  753,057.  Area,  physical  features,  climate  etc.  of 
Canada  and  Quebec;  total  area  of  Quebec  government  lands  120,000,000,  of  which 
in  1875  10,078000  weie  in  seignories;  10.153,000  in  clergy  lands;  29,386,240 
acres  leased  nntler  licenses  to  cut  timber,  leaving  over  60,00 J,000  acres  in  wooded 
lands.  The  province  of  Quebec  occupies  the  river  St.  Lawerancefiom  the  Ottawa 
river  to  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawerance,  is  very  cjld  in  winter  and  has  a  hot  dry  sum- 
mer. The  valley  of  the  8t.  Lawrence  is  exjeedingly  fertile,  but  the  north  bank 
east  of  the  Sagheuey,  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  climate  is  almost  incapable  of 
cultivation,  t^uebec's  area  in  square  miles  193,325;  frost  sets  in  about  the  mid- 
dle of  October,  the  Bun  continuing  to  render  the  days  mild  and  agreeable  foi"  3  op 
4  weeks,  when  snow  storms  set  in  which  continue  about  1  month  M'ith  variable 
and  hazy  atmosphere,  until  the  middle  or  end  of  December,  when  thewh' le  coun- 
try is  covered  with  an  average  depth  of  from  3  to  4  ft.  of  rnow;  an  un variable 
teaso*!  now  commences,  an  unintcruptedly  clear  sky  for  about  20  weeks;  the  ther- 
mometer ranging  for  the  most  part  of  the  time  from  20  to  30  balow  zero,  when  the 
frost  suddenly  breaks  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  about  the  end  of  April  or  Ist- 
of  May  the  snow  tjuddenly  disappears  and  in  the  short  space  of  a  month  the  most 
luxurious  verdure  and  veg*!tation  spreads  all  over  the  land;  the  thermometer  some- 
times in  June  ranging  fnmi  90  to  100  deg;  through  the  Summer  from  75  to  80. 
Tiie  advantage  of  Winter  is  that  a  horse  can  draw  twice  the  weight  3  times  the 
distaiice  on  a  snow  road  than  it  could  draw  on. the  host  constructed  road;  with 
out  snow  timber  could  not  be  removed  from  the  rough  uneven  forests.  On  Dec;' 
18th  '82  the  Drst  team  crossed  the  ice  on  the  river  St.  Lawrence  near  tie  m  uth 
of  thp  Nicolet  river,  Feb.  10th  '83  a  snow  blockade  delayed  the  mails  in  the 
province  of  Quebec.  The  winter  of  '83  was  favorable  to  the  Canadian  farmt  r, 
snow  being  abundant,  v/Iucli  protected  the  roots  of  the  graes  from  frost,  snow  is 
also  a  great  fertiliEer.  Mean  temperature  in  Montreal  in  '61,  Jan.  18th,  .Q 
degrees  above  zero;  Feb.  16th,  8  degrees;  Mar.  8th,  95  degrees;  April, 
'41,  4  degrees;  May,  '56,  12  degrees;  Jnnc,  '69,  97  degrees;  July,  '71, 
36  degrees;  Aug.  '71 »  4  degrees,  Sept.  '58,  56  degrees.  Oct.  '44,  50  degrees. 
Nov.  '32,  26  degs.  Dec.  ISth,  50  deg.  The  area  of  Canada,  including  Newfound- 
land, is  3,476,742  sq.  miles.  Sir  H.  Allen,  one  of  Canada's  great  men,  died  ia 
'82:  in  1831  he  commenced  to  give  his  attention  to  the  shipping  trade;  in,  185(J 
lie  contracted  with  the  Canadian  government  to  establish  a  fortnightly  service  to 

47 


^3/0  STATISTICS. 

bnd  from  Gt.  Britain  via  the  St.  Lawrence  when  it  was  open,   and   monthly  to 
lind  from  l'ortlan<l  during  the  winter.     In    lSd7    weekly  service  was  coniineiiced. 
'In  addition  to  the  mud  hum    Li\  ei )  ool    lie   iHtahli&lR'd  a  line  ircm  (ilusgow  ;  Le- 
sides  these  lines  of  steiimships  he  and  his  friends  ovi'ned  a  large  licet  ot   sailing 
•vessels.     The  Allen  line  grew  until    it   htciime  the  lurgtst  sttiimsliip  coinj.uny  in 
the  world.       In  74  he  received  the  honor  of   knighthood;  ho  w.-.s  laesident  of '22 
'business  compnides  <luring  his  life.      Statistics  ot  Montrtal:      In  l8o7  itf  poj)ula- 
"tion  was  50,000;  revenue  Oi  its  skating  rink  in  '81,  $8,]H4;  it  has  a  ladies  c«l»ica- 
tionai  association.       During  a  week  in  '81  there  were  GO  diaths,  GO  Catholics  and 
'0  Protestants.  Montreal  grocers  that  sell  liquors  pay  a  license  of  J;*200  a  year,  anil 
•wholegnle  tirnggists  jay^lOO       Montrud's  ]  oj  ulation  in  >!  was  140,082,  an  in- 
creiise  in    10  yeais   of   ;i.'i,4o7;    Montreal's  jaiish  church  seats  12,000;  it  has  a 
hidics  benevolent  society;  C)4  persons  were  udmitttd   in   its   heme    in   '82;    total 
'number  in  the  home,  150;  the  cost  of  each  inmate  for  the  year  was  $45. 17.       '1  ho 
custom  receipts  for  Montreal   for  the  quarter  ending  (Sept.  '82  amounted  to  $2,- 
4595,000.     There  are  over  80  Protestant  churches  in  Montrtal;    it   has  a  grocers' 
.'association,  a  ladies   female    emigration  society  and   a   Fiench   society   lor   the 
preservation  of   the  i'rchitectural  antiquities   of  thatpeoile.     It  has  an  asiiesscd 
•property   of  $00,000,000;  it  docs  not  otltr  bonuses  to  niiiiiulacturing  firms,  it  has 
•greater    advantages  to  offer,  that  of  being  a  commercial  cei.ter,  cheap  lal)or,  large 
market,    ijiihvay   and    water  communicaLion  with  every  part  of  the  countiy,  and 
'low  rates  of  fieight  lor  the  raw  material  and  the  manuiuctiired  articles.    A  M<m- 
"trealer  says  that  there  is  too  much  creilit  given  in  Montreal  and  that  sonje  of  its 
/Wealthiest  citizens  are  the  worse  ))nyers.       Total  amount  of  nierchandise  entered 
for  consumption  at  the  port  of   Montreal  for  the  month  of  Dec.  1882  wa.s  as  fol- 
lows:    Dutiable  goo('s,  ^1,028, 3'20;    coin  and  bullion,  excepting  American  biivcr, 
'$1,901;  free  goo<ls  3408,031,  making  a  total   of  .%',098,:J12,  on   which   duty   was 
'collected  to  the  amount  of  !j^400,504.     The   principal   items   were   manufactures, 
'woolen,    ^120,013;    leather,    05,703;    iron   and   steel,  204,012;  cottons,  '201,482; 
•flour and  meal,    48,300;    grain,    '23,518;    books,    pamphlets,    etc.,    32,320;    total 
•amount  of  goods  that  entered    Montreal   in  '82,  $40,044,518;  ducy  colle(!tetl^  $8,^ 
'895,708.     In  1881  the  amount  of  goods  entered  was  $31,118,985;    duty  collected,* 
'I;?, 072, 137.     The   average   amount   of   postoltice  orders  issued  per  week  in  Mon- 
•"treal  in  '82  amounted  to  $183,101;   revenue   of  Montreal  postotiice  for  '82,  $172,- 
■€'22.      Mr.  Grenshields  of  Montreal,  after  providing  for  his  heirs,  left  the  follow- 
ing amounts:       To   the  poor  of    St.    Paul's   church,  $1,000;     Montreal  Thistle 
€urling  Club,  $500;    8t.  Andrew's  Society,  $1,000;    Mackays   Deaf  and   Dumb 
Institute,  $1,000;   Protestant  Orphan  Asyluni,  $500;    Ladies  Benevolent  Society, 
foOO;     Harvey's   Institute,  $500;     Trelalgar  Institute,  $J00;     Boys'  Hom'>,  500; 
♦Widow's  and    Orphan's   Fund    of   the  Presbyterian   church,  500;    Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  500;  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  250;  Working 
Girl's  Association,  250;  Montreal  Sailor's  Institute,  1,000;    Art  A.ssociation,  500; 
^cOill  University,  40.000;    Montreal  General  Hospital,  4.000;    Morrin  College, 
Vuebec,  5,000;  Queen's  University,  Kingston,  5,000;  Home  Mission  Fund  of  the 
■Presbyterian  church  of  Canada,  10,000.     The  city  District  Saving  Bank  of  Mon- 
treal gave  in  '82,  $10,000  to  charitable  societies.      There  is   a  law   in    Montreal 
that  forbids  the  building  of  wooden  houses  within   the   city  limits.      Montreal's 
Catholic   Deaf  and    Dumb  Institute   receiver  aid   from   the   Government,    the 
Protestant  one  does  not.     In  '82  there  were  775  licensed  vehicles' in  Montreal.    A 
Wontreal  auctioneer  sold  in  9  days,  $150,000  worth  of  property.      In  '82,  5,000,- 
QOO  people  travelled  in  the  street  cars  of  Montreal;    in  Montreal  the  names  of 


STATISTICS. 


37  ^ 


the  stroota  arc  printed  on  tl»o  glusscs  of  the  corner  lumps;  in  '80  Montrt-nl  har^- 
11,00.')  (iiiuliticd  vut(T8:  iu '01  Muiitrcurs  populutiun  coiiHtuteil  of  0.'),Si)0  R(>iiiiir> 
Catliolk's  iiiid  2J,504  I'rotentunts:  Montreal's  population  in  1018  was  .'t,00().  *J4 
nu>v»p.i.pcr;i  and  poriodiualu  are  puWliahud  iu  Mdutrcai.  Statistica  of  Quebec:  Ii^ 
'SI  It  Had  02.4^i7  iuhaliitaiit^ii,  un  iucicaiic  of  ovc-r  '2,000  in  10  ycurH.  lluvenuc  of 
its  postoflico  in  '82  ^S.),009;  tlio  vvliole  water  8up|»ly  of  Quchic  is  conductetl 
tlu-ou^li  oui!  main  pi))e,  lience  bo  nuiny  dcHlructive  lircs;  Moutioara  iu  condueti'(|[ 
through  'A  )Mpca.  Quel>c(j's  population  in  1781  \va.^  7,000;  it  in  400  nuU-a  from  th^ 
nioutti  of  tijo  St.  J^awrenco.  The  tido  oxtentis  90  niilos  ahovu  it  to  Thrco  KivcrHj 
it  ia  built  on  a  promontory  formed  by  the  contluance  of  tiio  St.  Cluirlta  river  an4 
St.  Lawrence;  Cape  Diamond,  at  the  lower  eml  of  which  the  city  stands,  is  i^ 
bohl  promontory,  330  ft.  uIjovo  the  river;  its  fortiiicatioiiei  cover  40  acrch.  The 
city  IS  divided  into  two  parts,  upper  and  lower;  the  former  includes  the  citad.-ji 
and  fortifications;  the  luttei-  is  tlie  scat  of  conjmerce.  Most  of  the  houses  are  of 
stone  founded  on  rock,  environed  as  to  tiie  most  important  parts  by  walls  and 
gates  and  defended  at  every  point  by  numerous  and  heavy  cannons.  Its  spacious 
harbor  contains,  during  0  montlis  of  the  year,  fleets  of  foreign  mercliantmen.  Lttf 
Btre. its  arc  narrow,  populous  an  I  winding  up  and  down  almost  mountainous  doi 
cliviti^s.  Its  wharf  accomo  lationa  is  extensive  and  timl)jr  coves  are  numeroufv 
and  spacious.  The  mount  lins  noith  and  east  of  Qucht-c  are  the  most  beautiful 
amphitlicatei's  to  be  seen  in  North  America:  nu)untain  ami  plain,  narrow  raving 
wide  retreating  hollow,  rocky  escatpment  and  lofty  hills  almost  assuming  th^ 
magnitiule  of  mountains.  Among  its  public  structures  are  Laval  University, 
Parliament  Hdusc,  Anglican  and  R.  C.  Cathedrals.  20  cliurches,  2  colleges,  a- 
normal  Rcliool,  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  monuments,  Post  Olliee,  Custom  House, 
Mai  ine  Hospital  and  Markets.  In  '01,  Quebec  had  41,477  K  Cs.  and  9,224 
Prjta-stants.  In  'Jl,  Tiirjo  lliv,;r's  population  was  4,50J;  in  'i.51.  O,0jS,  t'lougli^ 
situated  at  the  outlet  of  tirj  S:.  Miuricj  river  and  in  front  of  immense  lundjoring. 
forests,  with  navigable  outlets  and  a  great  extent  of  aralde  laiul,  it  has  made, 
very  little  progress.  Shcrbrooks  is  91  miles  by  railway  below  Montreal;  it  lies^ 
on  both  sid  s  of  the  St.  Francis  river:  in  'ol  it  had  3,000  inhabitants,  in  '01,  5,-» 
8S9;  the  same  year  it  had  2  colleges,  1  R.  C.  and  1  Protestant;  1  Protestant 
academy,  1  convent,  1  public  librai  y  and  2  newspapers.  St.  Hyancithe  in  'GQ 
had  4,000,  inhabitants,  a  college,  convent  and  a  few  factories.  In'82  the  Province^ 
of  Quebec  had  19  towns,  Point  Ljvis  being  the  largest  with  a  population  of  7,957j 
Terrel)onne  being  t^e  smallest  with  1,308.  In '51  Quebec  had  5  towns  with  t^ 
population  of  4,930.  The  increase  in  population  in  30  years  iu  Quebec's  town* 
and  cities  auiounted  to  107,000;  that  of  its  counties  anil  villages,  300,242.  Ex-f 
tracts  from  newspapers,  press  opiid< 'US,  etc. — A  French  newspaper  says:  "Th^ 
annexation  of  Canada  to  the  U.S.  wouKl  effect  the  absorbing  of  the  French  Cana, 
dian  race  among  the  numerous  nationalities  of  the  U.  S.  and  therefore  it  is  bette» 
that  Canada  should  renmin  separate."  Circulation  of  the  "Witness,"  one  o$ 
Montreal's  largest  papers,  daily  13,334;  weelily  20,700.  "Aurore,"  a  FrcMcl^ 
Protestant  paper,  circulation  1,270.  A  leading  Canailian  writer  says:  "It  is  nof 
impossible  that  the  day  will  come  wlieu  C.inadawdl  demand  and  have  an  eifectiv^i 
representation  in  the  British  Parliament,  and  be  able  to  have  a  hand  in  directing 
the  acts  of  the  Imperial  (lovernnient.  Tiiis  is  more  likely  to  occur  than  annex? 
atioa  to  the  U.  8.  Canadians  are  not  likely  to  relinquish  privileges  and  power  as 
British  subjects,  but  are  more  likely  to  make  the  greater  uso  of  those  rights  and 
extend  their  power  and  privilege  to  the  utmost.  As  to  their  contemplatinganyj 
change  in  future  it  would  be  more  likely   to  be   independence   than   annexatioiij 


372  STATISTICS. 

if  Canada  can  have  all  the  practical  benefitB  of  indeprnclcnce  without  the  name 
thoy  will  not  hurry  to  get  it.  '  1'he  Pall  Mali  (Gazette  of  England  htm  the  follow- 
ing: '  Ounadu  iH  a  tie  for  England.  How  its  annexation  to  the  U.S.  would 
tighten  the  l)ond  of  friendship  between  it  and  Englond.  There  is  one  considera* 
tion  in  connection  with  the  probable  absorption  of  Canada  l.y  the  U.  ^.  'Ihis 
consideration  is  the  importance  of  an  Ainericani/ed  Canada  os  a  link  betMeen 
ourselves  and  the  U.  S.  as  a  bond  of  friendship  to  unite  even  more 
closely  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  English  Breaking  jtc-rle.  It  is 
probable  that  at  the  prteent  time  8yni]nthy  between  England  and 
America  runs  higher  than  at  any  other  previous  period;  still  tlie  manner 
the  U.  8.  originally  separated  from  England  bus  left  on  the  part  of  the 
Americana  a  feeling  whien  we  indeed  have  for  many  years  ceased  to  share, 
but  which  is  naturally  kept  alive  by  historical  aFsociutions  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  until  the  war  of  the  secespion;  the  one  salient  event  in  American  an- 
Dals  was  the  revolutionary  struggle.  Now  if  Canada's  5,000,000  inlmbitants  be- 
Cante  quietly  and  peaceably  of  their  own  free  will  citizens  of  the  U.  S.  as  well  as 
Ivell  wishers  to  England,  the  value  to  the  latter  country  would  be  incalcuable. 
Kvery  Canadian  who  settled  in  the  U.  S.  would  become  a  center  fordifcseminntitn 
of  phil  lirittannic  ideas  among  born  Americans  around  him;  another  dangcrwhich 
this  would  counteract  is  that  the  Irishmen  who  have  settled  in  Car.ada  have  be- 
tome  loyal  subjects  of  England,  and  theirinfluence  wcuhl  moderate  and  counteiaet 
the  hatred  of  thousands  of  their  fellow  countrymeii  that  have  settled  in  the  U.  S. 
who  still  retain  and  shew  it  by  their  political  inlluence  that  they  would 
injure  as  much  as  they  could  the  imperial  government  that  drove  them  from  their 
native  land  by  misgovernment  in  the  past.  These  considerations  for  8»'curirg  the 
friendship  of  the  only  other  great  industrial  non-military  nation  in  the  world  aie 
♦urely  as  well  worth  our  attention  as  any  other  impossible  schemes  for  governing 
a  universe  from  Downing  street  by  telegraph;  another  reason  is  that  a  great  jait 
of  the  division  line  between  the  two  countries  is  only  in\aginary  and  also  that  the 
river  St.  Lawrence  is  the  natural  outlet  of  a  great  portion  of  American  commerce. 
The  Manitoba  legislature  tried  to  pass  a  rly  act  allowinj;  rly  connection  with  the 
American  system  to  tap  the  Canadian  Pacific  rly,  which  would  have  diverted  the 
trade  of  Manitoba  to  Chicago  and  St.  Paul,  but  the  Dominion  government  pre- 
lierved  the  Manitoba  markets  for  the  mercliants  and  manufacturers  of  Canada, 
which  is  just  beginning  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  its  enterprise.  Canada,  includii'g 
the  bonus  to  the  C.  P.  rly  has  spent  $45,000,000  to  develop  the  Canadian  north- 
^'est.  Montreal  "Witness"  says  a  flood  of  indecency  has  flowed  in  upon  society 
both  in  literature  and  art.  Montreal  dealers  sell  undraped  figures  including  a 
large  propoition  of  vulgarly  realistic  works  of  French  artists.  Quebec  "Gazette" 
was  published  in  French  and  partly  in  English  i\j  17G7.  Rivers,  haibors,  rail- 
lurays,  canals,  etc,  In  1882  the  commissioner  of  Quebec  go^e^'nment  rlys  aifected 
economies  to  the  amount  of  $20,000  in  the  pay  rolls.  In  '82  there  was  a  25  foot 
channel  from  Montreal  to  Quebec,  while  the  natural  channel  is  only  10  ft.  6  in. 
In  1850  the  flats  of  Lake  St.  Peter  allowed  navigation  to  the  depth  of  11  ft.;  tM'o 
years  later  10  ft.  had  been  secured;  in  '78  22  ii;  $5,000,000  have  been  spent  on 
this  channel  and  Montreal  harbor  in  the  last  10  years.  The  Grand  Trunk  rail- 
Way  controls  considerably  over  3,000  miles  of  road.  The  Earth  Shore  railway 
from  Quebec  to  Montreal  is  a  paying  line.  Formerly  the  price  of  Canadian  stocks 
moved  submissively  with  the  American  railway  department  now  the  Canadian 
market  on  the  contrary  asserts  a  will  of  its  owvi.  The  Canadian  securities  reiuse 
to  sympathise  and  have  even  been  bouyant   when  American  stocks  are  falling. 


STATISTICS,  37J 

The  Qctiou  of  New  York  st'^te  imposes  on  the  Canadian  /i^ovemment  the  samo 
duty.  The  guvtimnient  is  confrouted  by  tho  ulturimtivo  to  abolish  the  tolls 
on  Canadian  canals  or  render  luoperative  the  $40,000,000  that  has  k>een  spent  on 
Canadian  canals  up  to  '82.  Oi  the  freight  paying  toils  of  the  Welland  canal  in 
'^1  no  less  than  629,347  tons  out  of  a  total  trathc  of  700,478  tons  were  derived 
from  the  United  States  over  half  of  which  was  United  States  merchandise  passing 
down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Canadian  ports  for  export  to   Europe,     The  Quebeo 

Sovernmnnt  sale  of  the  North  Shore  rail«vay  to  the  Grand  Trunk  railway  ia 
ctriniental  to  the  interests  of  Quebec.  Now  there  will  be  little  if  any  oi  the 
produce  of  the  Northwest  shipped  from  Quebec,  wliich  would  have  been  the 
terminus  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  railway.  In  1870  the  mileage  of  Canadian 
rlys  was  6,265  miles;  in  '81  7,230.  Canada  shows  the  largest  rly  increase  of  all 
the  British  colonies  except  India;  5000  cars  are  coming  and  goiutc  betM'een  Mon- 
treal and  Toronto  in  '82,  loaded  with  freight  and  an  equally  large  amount  on  tho 
Eastern  division;  25  miles  of  the  CanaditiU  I'acitic  rly  was  built  in  a  week  in  July 
'82,  which  ia  without  parallel  in  the  hiatory  of  rly  construction;  at*that  date  728 
miles  of  track  had  Insen  constructed  west  of  Winnipeg.  By  tho  completion  of  tho 
Ontario  and  Quebec  rly  a  thro  connection  has  been  e8tabli»he<l  between  the  Kua.- 
tern  seaports  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  1880  $316,538  worth  of  tolls  were 
collected  on  the  Welland,  St.  Lawrence,  Chambly,  Burlington  Bay,  Ottawa  and 
Newcastle  canals  Nominal  capital  raised  for  the  railways  of  Canada:  -ordinary 
share  capital,  $119,000,000;  preference  share  capital,  $70,450,000;  bonded  debt, 
$80,001,000;  government  and  municipal  aid,  $100,435,000;  total  capital,  §37 1,- 
051,000;  total  number  of  passengers  carried  on  Canadian  rlys  in  '82,  4.811,582; 
tons  of  freight,  8,045,678:  yield  of  passenger  traffic,  $7,076,339;  freight  traffic, 
$15,500,935;  mails  and  express  freight,  $851,222;  other  sources,  $102,075;  total 
annual  receipts  of  rlys,  $23,561,477;  their  expenses  were  for  maintenance  of  line 
buildings,  etc.,  $3,968,376;  working  and  repairs  of  engines,  $5,170,193;  working 
and  repairs  of  cars,  $1,629,247;  general  operating  expense,  $6,253,728;  tot^l  ex- 
pensv^,  $16,840,705.  fJuring  the  month  of  Aug.  '82,  the  Canadian  Pacific  Ka'lwy 
Co,  paid  out  $2,200,000.  The  Dominion  government  before  it  sold  the  Pacific 
rly  to  the  syndicate  spent  on  it  $4,175,000.  In  '82  it  spent  on  telegraph  and  cable 
lines.  $53,635.  In  '6.3  there  were  in  Ontario  and  Quebec  3,130  miles  of  telegraph 
and  4,045  miles  of  wire;  146  stations  open  to  the  public;  208  instruments  in  use 
and  332,779  messages  sent  in  the  year.  The  cost  of  road  and  equipments  of  all 
Ontario's  and  Quebec's  rly  in  '09,  $92,283,495;  net  income  of  all  their  rlvs  in  '60, 
$1,033,033;  total  length  of  rly  in  Canada  in  '60,  1,907  miles;  gross  earnings  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  rail ivay  in '61,  $,517,829;  that  of  the  Great  Western,  $2,266,684. 
Schools,  colleges,  education,  etc.  In  '82  McGill  University  was  50  yrs  old.  A 
branch  of  Laval  University  of  Quebec  was  started  in  Montreal  in  '82.  In  '81  166 
students  attended  McGdl  University,  56  from  Quebec,  16  from  U.  S.  and  the  re- 
mainder froni  other  Canatllan  grovincgs.*  $l33^in  4  yrs  has  to  be  paid  by  each  stu- 
dent for  lectnr6sj>  ^  for  ma'tHcl♦l^i«l•ftei*!!M*fovce^egist^ati  each  session;  for 
dt'gree  $20,  rJ}|•C^»tlV&ouH)f^de^r^*^?[^^p^^)ftaF  fees  for  medical  students  $12; 
good  board  froiri^'l?)  to  S(Ja  nioutli;  ^^Tre'nch'Cana'lians  and  13  English  paased 
at  McGill  foj*4;li/Ld^^ef  ttf'B.  l;:*^:  iO;79J  1&7rs4;fldCnts  have  taken  and  are  takinjj 
the  degree  9r«Lk,*^.  rU.: 'ShiWl^l?^  J720rlia\;tf  p^JseetJiiA  doctors  of  medicine,  88  as 
M.  A's,  2  as  InUstdlSbf  fenginoertng  ftntt  applied  s&iehtfi,  as  bachelors  of  civil  law 
600;  32  as  bachelors  of  applied  science;  in  mining  and  assaying  7;  in  practical 
chemistry  1;  in  civil  engineering  16.  A  leading  Canadian  paper  says  some  Can- 
adian male  students  object  to  the  coeducation  oi  ladies  in  medical  colleges  because 


,'374  STATISTICS. 

it  involves  the  suppression  of  coarseness.  Many  of  the. ladies  also  take  the  high- 
est scholarships.  The  land  occupied  by  schools  in  Montreal  cost  $121,338.  The 
buildings  $192,222,  and  the  furniture  of  them  $17,085;  number  ot  teajhers  99; 
•number  of  scholars  3,670.  The  Polytechnie  school  of  Montreal  cost  $72,050,  each 
graduate  from  the  school  costs  the  government  $1775.  In  '84  Canada  had  800,- 
000  schools.  Quebec  Seminary,  now  Laval  University,  was  founded  in  1714;  75 
students  attended  it;  in  '00  300.  In  '02  Canada  had  3,070  schools  .with  188,335 
.scholars;  3  normal  and  model  schools  with  200  pupils;  4  special  schools  135  schol- 
ars; academies  for  boys  41  with  3,970  pupils;  academies  for  girls  84  with  15,504 
pupils;  colleges  7  with  247  students;  classical  collejjes  13  with  2,688  students; 
industrial  colleges,  14  with  2,300  pupils;  universities,  3  with  371  students.  In 
'02  Canada's  people  paid  $379,075  f of  school  purposes  and  its  government  $187,- 
195.  McGill  university  is  Protestant,  but  is  free  to  all  denominations;  it  is  350 
ft.  wide.  In  '58  it  had  711  students;  30  in  law,  90  in  med;;cine,  35  in  arts;  its 
high  school  contained  244,  its  normal  school   70,  and  model   school  230;  in  '03  it 

•  had  937  students.  Qutjbec  gov.  in  'GO  had  appropriated  2,125,179  acres  of  land 
in  aid  of  its  coUejiiate  institutions.  Quebec  bad  in  '80,  4  universities,  1  English 
and  2  French.  Minerals,  mines,  their  products,  etc.  $0,000,000  was  invested 
in  phosphate  mines  in  Canada  in  '82;  deposits   of  iron  discovered   in  '82  at  East 

•  Sherbrooke.  No  hard  soil  mines  have  as  yet  been  discovered  in  Quebec;  petro- 
leum has  been  discovered  at  Port  Neuf.     In  '61  Acton  copper  mines  produced  3,- 

,2J3  tons  of  ore  valued  at  $150  a  ton;  in  '•)3  che  amount  of  copper  exported  from 
Canada  amounted  to  $92,080;  in   1880  the  export  of  mines  were  $293,659;   in  '61 

^Champlain  county  pnnluced  17,877   tons  of  iron   valued  at  $5,390;  in   '59,  7000 

tons  of  copper  were  shipped  from  Lake  Superior  mines;  in  '61,  1,011  tons  of  cop- 
^per,  worth  $328,581  were  raised  in  Canada;  west  petroleum,  naptha  and  asphalt 
were  found  in  Canada.  The  oil  region  covers  7000  square  miles;  silver  has  been 
.discovered  in  small  quantities;  gold  also  in  similar  quantities.  Quebec  is  one  of 
the  poorest  provinces  of  Canada  in  minerals.  Laws,  crime,  prifons,  lunacy,  paup- 
erism etc. — A  Quebec  justice  of  peace  was  fined  $50  and  24  hours  imprisonment 
for  tampering  with  a  jury-man.  "The  Prisoners  aid  society"  of  Quebec  has  ap- 
pealed to  the  government  for  a  better  classilication  of  Protestant  pxisoners.     The 

•  general  council  of  tlie  bar  of  Quebec  held  a  session  in  '83  and  discussed  reforms  in 
direction  of  cheaper  and  more  expeditious  legal  procedure.  Annual  report  of 
Montreal  jail  for  '71 — There  were  2,350  commitments;  438  wer  females  and  628 
were  of  foreign  birth;  1,522  were  R.  C's  ;  of  these  criminals  27  were  under  14; 
808  between  14  and  20;  745  between  20  and  30;  338  between  30  and  40;  99  of 
them  were  sailors,  and  only  1  professional  man.  Church  wardens  are  liable  for 
obligations  conrracted  purely  in  their  official  capacity. 


<i    «  «  •    ,  J  ..     «  .  J     01  *'  >     •      - 


■♦•■■■ 


i  . 


Ndw  Ready  ior  the  Press  by  the  same  Author. 


■   ( 

The  largest  and  most  complete  work  ever  published  in  Utah  on 
Mormonism,  which  does  complete  justice  to  the  grand  and  unlimited 
resources  of  this  Territory,  and  gives  the  entire  history  of  the  Mor- 
mons, and  their  religion  from  their  earliest  origin  to  the  present  day, 
with  biographical  sketches  of  their  great  men.  The  work  is  totally 
free  from  the  Sectarian  bias  that  has  disfigured  most  of  the  works  that 
outsiders  have  published  on  the  state,  of  affairs  in  Utah.       *** 

It  will  form  a  book  of  Over  one  thousand  pages,  with  one  hundred 
illustratio:.s  of  Utah's  grandest  scenipry,  largest  towns,  colossean  tem- 
ples and  portraits  of  it's  greatest  m^n.  Handsomely  bound  in  Tur- 
key  Morocco,  $300;  half  library  ;^2. 00;  cloth,  $1.50;  paper  cover, 
$1.00.  Names  of  susbcribers  addressed  to  R.  A.  N.  Harvey,  Times 
Office,  31  E.  First  South  St.  Salt  liake  City.  Agents  allowed  a  liberal 
discount. 


/f  ' 


\    '{ 


\ 


